1 77  9  -  •  i  Si;;;  3. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVHP91TY  OF 
CALtPORNIA 
SAN  D1E60 


IRemtmscences  of  3Literar\> 
Xonoon. 


-i.V"'  ~'*  " 


IRemimscencee 


OF 


Xiteran?  Xonfcon 

Jfrom  1779  to  1853. 

lUitb  3-ntercsttiui  Bnecoote0  of  publtabers, 

Butbous  and  JSoofc  Buctioneers 

of  tbat  perioo,  £c.,  ^c. 

BY 

DR.  THOMAS  REES, 

WITH  EXTENSIVE   ADDITIONS   BY 

JOHN   BRITTON,  F.  S.  A. 


Eofteo  bg  a  JBoofc  Xover. 


NEW  YORK : 

FRANCIS  P.  HARPER. 
1896. 


Copyright,  1896, 

by 
Francis  P.  Harper. 


interesting  "Literary  Reminiscences," 
written  about  1853,  and  privately  issued,  are 
known  to  but  few  persons,  as  but  a  limited  num- 
ber of  copies  were  printed  for  presentation.  The 
volume  includes  extensive  recollections  of  Au- 
thors, Publishers,  and  Booksellers  from  1779  to 
1853.  The  authors  were  personally  acquainted 
with  all  the  prominent  writers,  artists,  and  makers 
of  books,  and  many  curious  anecdotes,  prices  re- 
ceived by  authors  for  their  well-known  works,  edi- 
tions sold,  and  personal  peculiarities  of  literary 
and  business  men  here  given  will  be  new  to  the 
reader.  The  work  is  now  for  the  first  time  edited, 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  as  enjoyable  read- 
ing to  the  purchaser  as  it  has  been  to  the 

New  York,  1896.  BOOK  LOVER. 


PREFACE 
By  John  Britton. 

T.  PAUL'S  Churchyard,  Ave-Maria  Lane  and 
Amen  Corner  were  familiar  names  to  the  eye 
and  mind  in  my  boy-days ;  but  I  had  no  more  no- 
tion of  the  features  and  character  of  the  places  than 
of  the  interior  of  a  man-of-war,  or  of  Robinson 
Crusoe's  island.  After  reading  numerous  maga- 
zines, and  taking  in  several  of  the  sixpenny  num- 
bers published  by  Harrison,  Cooke,  Parsons,  etc., 
and  thereby  ascertaining  something  about  au- 
thors, artists,  printers,  and  booksellers,  I  became 
curious  and  anxious  to  see  such  gifted  person- 
ages, their  homes,  or  haunts;  and  also  where 
the  manufacturers  of  literature  resided,  what  were 
their  peculiarities,  and  who  and  what  sort  of  be- 
ings they  were.  I  also  coveted  to  see  and  read 
more  books  than  I  could  afford  to  purchase. 
During  the  apprenticeship,  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  had  an  opportunity  of  satisfying  this  curi- 
osity, except  early  in  a  morning,  before  shops 
were  opened,  or  on  Sundays,  when  they  were  all 
closed,  and  "The  Row,"  with  its  appendages,  as 


PREFACE. 

dull  and  silent  as  many  village  churchyards;  but 
after  being  relieved  from  my  apprentice-bond- 
age, I  found  my  way  to  the  famed  book-mart; 
traversed  the  narrow,  dark  street,  miscalled  Row; 
stopped  to  gaze  at  every  shop  window,  and  even 
stealthily  looked  in  at  every  opened  doorway,  to 
see  if  a  Harrison,  a  Cooke,  a  Hogg,  or  even  one 
of  their  Grub-street  workmen,  or  a  rich  author, 
could  be  descried.  The  names  of  Peter  Pindar, 
Thomas  Holcroft,  Dr.  Buchan,  Wm.  Godwin, 
Dr.  A.  Rees,  Mr.  Howard,  Mr.  Hall,  Thos.  Paine, 
the  Misses  Porter,  Hannah  More,  Mrs.  Radcliffe, 
and  many  others  were  familiar  to  me,  and  I 
longed  to  see  such  super-human  beings,  as  I  then 
regarded  them.  At  length  I  ventured  to  enter 
some  of  the  houses,  and  thus  obtain  a  sight  of  la- 
belled numbers,  and  volumes  of  new  publications, 
and  also  the  persons  and  faces  of  some  of  their 
proprietors.  At  that  time  most  of  the  tradesmen 
attended  in  their  respective  shops,  and  dwelt  in 
the  upper  parts  of  their  houses;  now,  the  heads 
of  many  of  the  large  establishments  visit  their 
counting-houses  only  for  a  few  hours  in  the  day, 
and  leave  the  working  part  to  junior  partners, 
clerks,  and  apprentices.  Vast  and  numerous 
changes  have  taken  place  in  the  publishing  and 
bookselling  business  since  I  first  haunted  Pater- 


PREFA  CE. 

noster  Row,  and  book-stalls;  and  many  and  im- 
portant improvements  have  been  introduced  into 
all  the  essentials  of  book-making.  Paper,  type, 
ink,  compositorship,  and  press-work,  have  ad- 
vanced from  almost  the  lowest  to  nearly  the  high- 
est degree  of  perfection.  The  number  and  quali- 
fications of  authors  have  progressed  in  nearly  an 
equal  ratio.  This  assertion,  I  believe,  will  be  fully 
verified,  by  referring  to,  and  comparing,  the  books 
and  periodicals  which  were  published  at  the  end 
of  the  last  century  with  those  of  the  year  1852.  It 
would  not  be  a  difficult  task  to  exemplify  this  by 
explaining  the  varieties  and  dissimilarities  be- 
tween the  material  and  mental  characteristics  of 
literature  of  the  two  epochs ;  but  I  must  limit  my- 
self to  a  brief  account  of  Paternoster  Row. 

This  far-famed  thoroughfare  is  commonly  said 
to  derive  its  name  from  the  stationers,  or  text- 
writers,  who  formerly  dwelt  there,  and  dealt  most- 
ly in  religious  books,  horn-books,  and  others, 
which  were  marketable  before  the  Reformation. 
It  more  probably  had  its  appellation  from  the  ros- 
ary, or  pater-noster  makers,  a  more  thriving  trade 
than  bookselling,  before  Henry  the  Eighth,  of  rev- 
olutionary memory,  commanded  the  books  of 
Luther  to  be  burnt  in  the  Churchyard. 

Strype,  in  his  edition  of  Stow's  "Survey  of  Lon- 


PREFA  CE. 

don,"  1720,  says,  "This  street,  before  the  fire  of 
London  (1666),  was  taken  up  by  eminent  mercers, 
silkmen,  and  lacemen ;  and  their  shops  were  so  re- 
sorted to  by  the  nobility  and  gentry,  in  their 
coaches,  that  oft-times  the  street  was  so  stopped 
up  that  there  was  no  room  for  foot  passengers." 
Soon  after  that  conflagration  most  of  these  moved 
to  the  vicinity  of  Covent  Garden.  Some  of  the 
mercers  and  silkmen  renewed  their  residences  in 
this  spot  in  new  houses ;  but  near  the  east  end  there 
were  "stationers  and  large  warehouses  for  book- 
sellers; well  situated  for  learned  and  studious 
men's  access  thither,  being  more  retired  and  pri- 
vate." St.  Paul's  Churchyard  appears  to  have 
been  the  chief  mart  of  the  bookselling  trade  at  the 
time  of  the  great  fire.  Dugdale  told  Pepys  that 
more  than  £150,000  worth  of  books  were  de- 
stroyed on  that  fatal  occasion.  Previous  to  this 
epoch,  Little  Britain,  and  Duke  Street  adjoining, 
seem  to  have  been  the  most  noted  site  for  book- 
sellers. 

However  sanguine  my  young  imagination  may 
have  been,  I  did  not  dare  to  anticipate  the  pos- 
sibility of  ever  writing  or  publishing  a  book;  still 
less  of  being  on  friendly  terms  with  the  many  part- 
ners of  the  largest  publishing  establishment  in  the 
world.  Yet  such  has  been  my  lot;  and  having  in- 


PREFACE. 

dulged  the  habit  of  continually  visiting  Paternos- 
ter Row,  on  the  last  day  of  every  month  for  more 
than  forty  years,  it  has  become  identified  with 
many  and  various  associations  and  connexions 
of  deep  and  exciting  interest;  and  I  have  often 
meditated  on  writing  an  account  of  this  literary 
emporium.  But  I  have  thought  it  advisable  to 
solicit  my  old  and  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Thomas 
Rees,  to  indulge  me  with  his  opinions  and  recol- 
lections on  this  subject.  With  his  usual  kindness 
and  courtesy  he  promptly  favoured  me  with  the 
following  letter,  to  which  I  have  subjoined  a  few 
memoranda  of  my  own. 
My  Dear  Britton, 

You  ask  me  to  furnish  some  reminiscences  of 
Paternoster  Row,  in  the  earlier  period  of  my  ac- 
quaintance with  it,  towards  the  conclusion  of  the 
last,  and  the  commencement  of  the  present,  cen- 
tury. Our  long  and  intimate  connection,  our 
kindred  pursuits,  and  our  joint  labours  on  some 
occasions,  in  the  same  field,  of  literary  research, 
render  it  difficult  for  me  to  meet  your  wishes  with 
a  denial ;  at  the  same  time  I  feel  very  sensibly  that 
in  recurring  to  a  period  so  long  past,  between 
which  and  the  present,  half  a  century  has  inter- 
vened, important  matters  relating  both  to  events 
and  persons  may  have  escaped  my  recollec- 


PREFA  CE. 

tion,  or  may  be  recalled  too  indistinctly  and  im- 
perfectly to  be  of  real  value  for  a  practical  object. 
I  will,  however,  endeavour  to  revive  the  image  of 
this  locality,  as  it  appeared  to  my  view  at  the 
period  alluded  to;  and  to  awaken  the  memory  of 
such  facts  and  incidents  relating  to  the  character 
and  enterprises  of  its  inhabitants,  as  may  be  likely 
to  afford  some  interest  or  amusement  to  your 
readers. 

DR.    THOMAS  REES. 


Contents* 


PART  I. 

Paternoster  Row,  Past  and  Present,  and  its  Booksellers— Harrison's  Pub- 
lications—Dr.  Busby— Charles  Cooke— Alexander  Hogg— The  Riving- 
tons— Booksellers'  Signs— Annual  Register-^Londpn  Magazine— The 
Baldwins— The  Robinsons— J.  Scott— Alexander  Chalmers  and  his 
Publications-The  Longmans^Owen  Rees— Thomas  Hurst— Chambers' 
and  Rees'  Cyclopaedia— Annual  Review — W.  Taylor  and  R.  Southey 
—Authors  and  their  Publishers— Lardner's  Cyclopaedia— Third  Class 
of  Booksellers— Trade  Auctioneers— Peter  Pindar— Rees'  Cyclopaedia 
— P.  Courtier — Miss  Mitford — W.  Pinnock — Ave  Maria  Lane— Whit- 
taker's— H.  G.  Bohn— Stationers'  Court— Stationers'  Hall— St.  Paul's 
Churchyard  —  Francis  Newberry — Joseph  Johnson  —  Sir  Richard 
Phillips — C.  Bowles — J.  Mawman — Thomas  Hood pages  19  to  87 

PART  II. 

Fleet  Street  and  its  Immediate  Vicinity — McCreery — Nightingale  Ryl- 
ance-John Major— Walton  and  Cotton's  Angler— Walpole  Anecdotes 
— Rev.  T.  F.  Dibdin — Kearsley — Quarterly  Review— John  Murray- 
George  Cruikshank— W.  Hone  and  his  Trials— Wm.  jjobbett— E. 
Williams— The  John  Bull— London  Magazine  and  its  Contributors— 
J.  Taylor— J.  H.  Wiffin— Duke  of  Bedford— T.  Bensley— Red  Lion 
Passage — John  Nichols  and  his  Literary  Anecdotes— A.  J.  Valpy — 
Wm.  Pickering— The  Bridgewater  Treatises— High  Holborn— The 
Architectural  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain — John  Britton's  Partners — 
O.  Rees — Josiah  Taylor pages  89  to  126 

PART  III. 

The  Strand  at  the  beginning  of  the  Century— Thomas  Caddell— The 
Newspaper  Press — George  Lane — D.  Stuart — John  Bell — Rudolph 
Ackermann  and  his  publications— F.  Shoberl,  Author  and  Editor — 
Annuals — "Dr.  Syntax" — Combe — Rowlandson— John  and  Leigh  Hunt 
— The  Literary  Gazette — Richardson's  Auctions — Geographers — Prince 
Sanders  —  Lyceum  Theatre — Auctioneers — The  Sothebys — Evans — 
The  Christies'  Sale-Rooms—Pall  Mall— King  Street— Covent  Garden 
— Hogarth's  ^Election  —  P.  Luckombe — King  and  Lochee's  Auction 

Rooms;  their  book-sales pages  127  to  174 

'5 


part  I. 

PATERNOSTER  ROW 

AND  ITS  VICINITY. 


part  I. 


PATERNOSTER    ROW 

AND  ITS  VICINITY. 

Paternoster  Row,  Past  and  Present,  and  its  Booksellers — Harrison's 
Publications— Dr.  Busby— Charles  Cooke— Alexander  Hogg — The 
Rivingtons— Booksellers'  Signs— Annual  Register— London  Magazine 
— The  Baldwins — The  Robinsons— J.  Scott — Alexander  Chalmers  and 
his  Publications — The  Longmans — Owen  Rees — Thomas  Hurst — 
Chambers'  and  Rees'  Cyclopaedia— Annual  Review— W.  Taylor  and 
R.  Southey — Authors  and  their  Publishers — Lardner's  Cyclopaedia — 
Third  Class  of  Booksellers — Trade  Auctioneers — Peter  Pindar — Rees' 
Cyclopaedia— P.  Courtier—  Miss  Mitford  — W.  Pinnock— Ave  Maria 
Lane— Whittaker's— H.  G.  Bohn— Stationers'  Court— Stationers'  Hall 
— St.  Paul  Churchyard —  Francis  Newberry— Joseph  Johnson — Sir 
Richard  Phillips— C.  Bowles— J.  Mawman— Thomas  Hood. 

*fK|  EAR  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
II  \  "The  Row,"  as  it  is  now  popularly  called, 
contained  two  or  more  printing  establishments, 
one  of  which  was  conducted  by  the  late  "George 
Woodfall,"  who  had  succeeded  his  father,  Henry 
Sampson  Woodfall,  well  known  as  the  printer  and 
publisher  of  the  "Public  Advertiser,"  in  which  ap- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

peared  the  far-famed  "Letters  of  Junius."  The  lat- 
ter was  still  living,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  see- 
ing him  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  "green  old  age," 
when  I  first  visited  London.  Those  daring  epis- 
tles, with  the  newspaper  in  which  they  were  pub- 
lished, excited  intense  curiosity  during  the  course 
of  their  publication.  There  were  also  two  houses 
of  wholesale  stationers ;  one  belonging  to  the  fam- 
ily of  Key,  and  the  other  to  Peter  Wynn.  The 
University  of  Oxford  had,  under  the  management 
of  Mr.  Gardner,  a  depot  to  supply  the  London 
trade  with  their  editions  of  Bibles  and  Prayer- 
books.  But  with  these,  and  a  few  other  excep- 
tions, the  majority  of  the  houses  were  tenanted  by 
persons  who  were  strictly,  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
Booksellers.  The  varieties  of  these  may  be  classed 
under  three  divisions.  The  first  comprehends 
publishers  only,  whose  sale  of  books  was  confined 
to  their  own  property.  The  second  might  be  des- 
ignated book-merchants,  who  were  chiefly  whole- 
sale dealers,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  and  im- 
portant trade  with  country  booksellers;  they  were 
also  publishers  upon  a  large  scale,  both  of  peri- 
odicals, under  the  designation  of  magazines,  and 
reviews;  and  likewise  works  on  general  literature 
and  science,  of  the  larger  and  more  important  and 
costly  descriptions.  The  third  were  chiefly  retail 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

traders,  mostly  in  old  books,  but  in  some  instances 
were  publishers  of  pamphlets,  and  books  of  com- 
paratively small  expense. 

In  the  first  class,  at  the  time  under  considera- 
tion, three  persons  were  conspicuous,  viz. :  Harri- 
son, Cooke,  and  Hogg.  The  first,  on  many  ac- 
counts, is  entitled  to  pre-eminence,  as  he  took  the 
lead  in  a  class  of  publications  which  deserve  great 
praise  for  valuable  improvements  in  their  editorial 
qualities,  and  particularly  in  pictorial  illustrations. 

It  is  not  easy  to  pronounce  decidedly  the  exact 
time  when  books  of  magnitude  were  first  divided 
into  small  portions  and  issued  periodically  in 
numbers;  but  Harrison  may  be  said  to  be  one  of 
the  first  persons  who  embarked,  with  much  spirit 
and  upon  an  extensive  scale,  in  such  a  mode  of 
publication.  His  first  speculation  of  the  sort  was 
"The  Novelist's  Magazine,"  which  embraced  sev- 
eral of  the  larger  standard  and  popular  English 
novels  then  known.  They  were  printed  in  octavo, 
in  double  columns,  stitched  up  in  small  numbers, 
and  published  weekly,  at  sixpence  each.  The 
most  striking  feature  of  this  publication,  and  one 
of  its  chief  attractions,  consisted  of  engraved  em- 
bellishments. Harrison  had  the  judgment  to  se- 
lect artists  of  acknowledged  merit,  who  afterwards 
rose  to  distinguished  eminence;  including  Stot- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

hard,  R.  Corbould,  Smirke,  and  Burney;  whilst 
the  engravings  bear  the  names  of  Heath,  Sharpe, 
Grignion,  Smith,  Milton,  Neagle,  etc.  The  "Nov- 
elist's Magazine,"  commenced  by  him  in  1779,  ex- 
tended to  twenty-three  good-sized  volumes.  Its 
popularity  may  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that,  at 
one  time  12,000  copies  of  each  number  were  sold, 
weekly.  The  success  of  this  work  encouraged 
Harrison  to  publish,  on  the  same  plan,  with  em- 
bellishments by  the  same  eminent  artists,  "The 
New  Novelist's  Magazine,"  a  series  of  short  tales ; 
which  was  followed  by  "The  British  Classics," 
embracing  the  Spectator,  Tatler,  Guardian,  Con- 
noisseur, etc.,  of  which  a  very  large  edition  was 
sold.  These  publications  still  maintain  their 
credit;  and  clean  copies,  with  good  impressions 
of  the  plates,  are  puchased  at  fair  prices.  He  also 
produced  a  corresponding  work,  entitled  "The 
Sacred  Classics." 

The  same  publisher  embarked  in  another  lit- 
erary speculation,  somewhat  singular  in  its  plan; 
a  "General  Geography,"  upon  a  large  scale,  ex- 
tending to  forty  numbers,  in  quarto,  closely  print- 
ed. He  engaged  to  supply  its  purchasers,  without 
additional  charge,  with  a  pair  of  twelve-inch 
globes.  Harrison  published  "The  British  Maga- 
zine," in  3  vols.,  with  beautiful  engravings  of  por- 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

traits,  views,  and  prints  of  historical  and  fancy 
subjects.  These  included  also  a  large  portion  of 
Biographical,  Historical,  and  Critical  Essays,  with 
Poetry.  His  next  publication  was  "The  Musical 
Magazine,''  which,  in  an  octavo  size,  gave  a  selec- 
tion of  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  and  popu- 
lar composers,  arranged  for  the  piano-forte.  The 
purchaser  of  the  entire  work  was  entitled  to  re- 
ceive a  square  piano-forte.  Dr.  Busby,  at  that 
time  a  popular  musical  professor,  was  employed  as 
editor,  and  the  instruments  were  examined  and 
attested  by  him.  This  gentleman  was  much  em- 
ployed by  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  writing  for  the 
"Monthly  Magazine,"  etc.,  and  later  in  life  made 
himself  very  conspicuous,  and  amenable  to  severe 
public  criticism,  by  translating  "Lucretius,"  and 
"giving  living  recitations  of  the  translation,  with 
tea  and  bread  and  butter,"  at  his  house  in  Queen 
Anne  Street,  to  select  parties  of  friends,  who  were 
invited  to  endure  the  one  and  relish  the  other.  I 
was  among  the  number,  and  must  own  that  the 
display  of  poetry,  oratory,  and  coxcombry  was 
lamentably  ludicrous.  Never  did  I  behold  a 
young  man  more  vain,  impudent,  and  heartless, 
than  the  juvenile  Busby,  and  rarely,  perhaps,  has 
the  diploma  of  "Mus.  Doc/'  appeared  more  ridicu- 
lous and  degraded  than  by  the  conduct  and  ap- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

pearances  of  the  musical  professor  with  his  finical 
son.  These  gentlemen  made  a  finishing  exhibi- 
tion of  themselves  on  the  re-opening  of  the  famed 
Drury  Lane  Theatre,  after  its  memorable  rebuild- 
ing. It  is  very  generally  known  that  an  Address 
was  sought  for  amongst  the  authors  of  the  age, 
and  that  in  the  mass  presented  was  one  from  Lord 
Byron,  accepted,  and  another  from  Dr.  Busby  re- 
jected. The  mortified  and  vain  Doctor  fancied 
that  he  could  bring  the  committee  to  shame,  if  not 
repentance,  by  publishing  his  own  poetry  and 
prose,  in  a  truly  novel  manner.  Accordingly,  he 
and  his  accomplished  son  were  seen  in  the  stage 
box  of  the  theatre  soon  after  its  opening.  At  the 
end  of  the  play  the  young  gentleman  leaped  upon 
the  stage,  with  his  father's  rejected  address  in  one 
hand,  and  an  opera  hat  in  the  other,  and  repeated 
the  following  lines: 

"  When  energizing  objects  men  pursue, 
What  are  the  miracles  they  cannot  do?" 

Here,  however,  the  juvenile  spouter  was  stopped 
by  Mr.  Raymond,  the  stage  manager,  and  a  con- 
stable, who  handed  the  young  gentleman  off  the 
stage.  The  "Rejected  Addresses,"  by  James  and 
Horace  Smith,  contain  a  good  burlesque  imitation 
of  the  Busby  address. 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

Amongst  the  periodicals  of  Harrison  was  "The 
Wit's  Magazine,"  edited  by  Thos.  Holcroft,  and 
containing  a  variety  of  amusing  articles  both  in 
prose  and  verse,  written  by  the  editor,  by  Mr.  Har- 
rison, and  by  other  authors  of  talent.  It  was  em- 
bellished with  large  prints,  folded.  His  "Bio- 
graphical Magazine/"  an  8vo.  volume,  contains 
small  engraved  portraits,  with  short  notices  of 
each  subject,  well  executed. 

Harrison  issued  two  periodicals  of  smaller  size, 
the  "Pocket  Magazine"  and  the  "Lady's  Pocket 
Magazine/'  which  were  published  monthly,  and 
embellished  with  portraits  and  a  series  of  small 
engraved  views  of  places,  from  drawings  by  the 
late  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.A.,  who  eventually  be- 
came the  most  eminent  landscape  painter  in  the 
world.  These  works  contained  writings  of  sev- 
eral young  authors,  some  of  whom  afterwards  at- 
tained eminence;  amongst  them  were  my  es- 
teemed friends,  the  Misses  Porter,  and  their 
brother,  the  poet,  artist,  and  traveler.  A  frequent 
writer  in  these  magazines  was  R.  A.  Davenport, 
who  sometimes  officiated  as  editor.  Both  Charles 
and  Thomas  Dibdin  contributed  many  well-writ- 
ten and  amusing  papers;  as  did  also  Peter  Cour- 
tier. 

Contemporary  with,  and  a  near  neighbour  to 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

Harrison,  was  John  Cooke,  who  for  many  years 
carried  on  a  large  and  successful  business  as  pub- 
lisher of  periodical  works.  He  was  probably  one 
of  the  earliest  of  the  Paternoster  Row  booksellers 
who  applied  himself  to  this  branch  of  trade,  upon 
a  large  scale.  The  subjects  and  form  of  his  books 
and  their  illustrations  were,  however,  very  differ- 
ent from  those  of  Harrison.  Cooke  confined  him- 
self, for  some  time,  to  religious  publications,  the 
principal  and  most  popular  of  which  was  South- 
well's "Commentary  of  the  Bible;"  it  had  a  large 
sale,  and  produced  a  profit  of  many  thousand 
pounds.  After  the  appearance,  in  numbers,  of 
Chambers'  "Cyclopaedia/'  under  the  editorial  care 
of  Dr.  Abraham  Rees,  Cooke  published  an  imita- 
tion, with  the  name  of  Hall,  as  editor,  of  some 
merit,  but  inferior  to  its  predecessor.  All  Cooke's 
publications  were  in  folio,  divided  into  small  por- 
tions, and  issued  weekly,  at  sixpence  each  num- 
ber; they  were  "adorned  with  cuts,"  which  were 
of  the  old  school,  both  as  to  drawings  and  engrav- 
ings. 

At  an  advanced  age  Mr.  Cooke  retired  to  the 
country,  with  a  handsome  fortune,  and  died,  in 
1810,  at  the  age  of  79.  His  son,  Charles,  con- 
tinued for  some  time  his  father's  principal  publica- 
tions; but  he  soon  commenced  a  new  course, 
26 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

which  was  attended  with  great  success.  The 
copyright  of  Hume's  "History  of  England,"  be- 
longing to  Cadell  and  Longman,  having  expired, 
Cooke  availed  himself  of  the  circumstance  to  pub- 
lish an  edition,  with  Smollett's  Continuation,  in 
weekly  numbers,  at  sixpence  each.  It  was  neatly 
printed,  and  embellished  with  portraits  and  vig- 
nettes tolerably  executed.  Contemporaneously 
with  this,  he  also  published  a  series  of  the  older 
popular  English  Novels,  with  attractive  embel- 
lishments. The  original  drawings  and  paintings, 
from  which  the  prints  were  taken,  were  exhibited 
in  a  picture  gallery,  at  the  rear  of  his  shop.  At  a 
later  time  Cooke  published  an  edition  of  Bell's 
"British  Theatre,"  under  the  editorship  of  Richard 
Cumberland.  Besides  inheriting  a  handsome  for- 
tune from  his  father,  he  acquired  a  considerable 
increase  by  his  own  speculations.  He  built  a  new 
house  in  Epping  Forest,  where  he  lived  a  short 
time,  and  died,  in  the  prime  of  life,  after  a  painful 
operation  performed  by  Sir  Astley  Cooper.  Al- 
though my  (Britton)  finances  would  not  allow  me 
to  purchase  the  whole  of  Harrison's  and  Cooke's 
publications,  I  bought  some  of  them,  at  what  is 
technically  called  "trade  price,"  and  must  own  that 
they  not  only  afforded  me  much  amusement  and 
instruction,  on  repeated  perusal  and  examination, 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

but,  I  believe,  created  that  love  of  literature  and 
art  which  progressively  rose  to  a  confirmed  pas- 
sion. The  periodicals,  by  the  publishers  above  no- 
ticed, were  sought  for  and  hailed  with  intense 
curiosity  as  they  made  their  appearance;  and  I 
may  safely  aver  that  the  embellished  works,  which 
I  have  since  produced,  sprang  from  the  seeds 
which  the  Cookes  and  Harrisons  sowed,  at  the 
end  of  the  last  century.  The  very  beautiful  and 
effective  drawings  and  engravings  by  Stothard 
and  Heath  were  eminently  calculated  to  fascinate 
the  young  eye,  as  they  gratified  also  that  of  the 
learned  professor  of  art.  Harrison's  "British  Mag- 
azine," of  which  three  volumes  were  published  in 
1782,  3  and  4,  contained  several  very  highly-fin- 
ished plates  by  Heath,  from  Stothard's  designs. 
A  short  time  before  his  decease  I  spent  a  day  with 
Charles  Cooke,  at  his  rural  villa,  which  had  at- 
tained the  cognomen  of  Cooke's  Folly.  Though 
expensively  fitted  up  and  furnished,  it  was  wholly 
devoid  of  the  elegancies  of  high  life,  and  exhib- 
ited more  ostentatious  finery  and  show  than  clas- 
sical or  simple  beauty.  Its  walls  were,  however, 
amply  covered  with  paintings,  drawings,  and 
prints. 

Alexander    Hogg,    who  lived    next  door  to 
Cooke,  formed  his  literary  schemes  on  the  model 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

of  his  neighbour.  His  publications  were  chiefly 
religious,  and  issued  in  weekly  sixpenny  num- 
bers. The  principal  were,  a  "Bible  with  Anno- 
tations/' by  the  Rev.  Timothy  Priestly,  the  brother 
of  the  eminent  philosopher  of  that  name.  Like 
Cooke,  Hogg  brought  out  an  "Encyclopaedia," 
with  the  name  of  Howard,  as  editor.  All  his  pub- 
lications were  in  folio;  with  a  profusion  of  most 
wretched  prints.  Miserable  as  these  works  were, 
both  as  to  literary  and  artistic  execution,  their 
proprietor  contrived  to  derive  from  them  a  hand- 
some fortune.  Amongst  the  books  published  by 
Hogg,  was  a  large  folio  volume,  called  "Antiqui- 
ties of  England  and  Wales,"  with  the  name  of 
Henry  Boswell,  as  author,  or  editor.  It  has  a 
great  number  of  prints  wofully  executed,  both  as 
to  drawing  and  engraving,  and  copied  from  any 
and  every  source  that  was  accessible.  For  pirat- 
ing one  or  more  from  Grose's  "Antiquities,"  the 
publisher  was  sued,  and  sentenced  to  pay  dam- 
ages, with  costs.  The  letter-press  was  quite  in 
harmony  with  the  prints,  and  equally  valueless, 
being  taken  from  any  book  or  books  that  could 
be  obtained,  without  acknowledgment.  The  ed- 
itor is  said  to  have  been  a  servant  of  Hogg's,  who 
was  paid  by  the  week  for  his  services,  iri 'cutting 
up  books  for  the  printer,  and  reading  the  proofs. 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

That  there  was  not  much  congeniality  of  senti- 
ment, or  friendly  feeling  between  Harrison  and 
Hogg,  may  be  inferred  by  an  epigram  which  the 
former  wrote  for  and  inserted  in  the  "Lady's 
Pocket  Magazine,"  July,  1795. 

ON    A    STUPID    BOOKSELLER. 

By  Peter  Pindar  Esq.   (James  Harrison.} 

Thou  Beast!  amid  the  sons  of  Wisdom  plac'd, 
Who,  times  of  old,  as  well  as  modern,  grac'd, 
Couldst  thou  not  catch  a  portion  of  their  fire? 
Rolls  not  thine  eye  upon  their  works  each  day, 
And  canst  thou,  from  them,  nothing  bear  away, 
To  lift  thy  HOG-like  soul  above  the  mire? 

At  the  period  under  consideration,  Hogg's  pub- 
lishing business  was  conducted  by  a  young  man, 
familiarly  known  in  the  trade  by  the  name  of 
"Thomas,"  who  was  much  liked  by  the  book- 
sellers' collectors.  He  served  his  master  many 
years,  and  was  with  him  when  the  latter  died.  He 
declined  to  serve  in  the  same  capacity  under  the 
son,  who  had  previously  been  a  stranger  to  the 
business ;  and  therefore,  after  some  demur,  was  ad- 
mitted by  the  latter  into  partnership.  The  union 
did  not  last  long.  Hogg  retired,  and  the  business 
devolved  on  "Thomas,"  who  introduced  important 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

changes  into  it,  by  which  he  raised  the  character 
of  the  house  and  improved  his  own  fortune.  He 
rose  gradually  in  the  esteem  of  his  neighbours, 
and  the  shopman  of  Mr.  Hogg  is  now  deservedly 
respected  as  Mr.  Alderman  Thomas  Kelly. 

My  next  class  comprises  the  greater  wholesale 
booksellers  and  publishers,  inhabitants  of  the 
Row.  The  first  of  these,  at  the  sign  of  the  "Bible 
and  Crown,"  were  the  Rivingtons.  Almost  all 
the  booksellers'  houses  of  London,  as  well  as 
those  of  other  trades,  were  formerly  contra-dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  by  Signs,  either  over 
the  doors,  or  projecting  into  the  streets.  The  lat- 
ter becoming  a  nuisance  were  prohibited  by  Act 
of  Parliament;  but  the  former  are  still  continued, 
in  many  places.  The  following  are  some  of  those 
Signs:  Bible  and  Ball;  Anchor;  Black  Swan; 
Black  Boy;  Golden  Anchor;  Cicero's  Head; 
Shakspere's  Head;  Red  Lion;  Ship  and  Black 
Swan;  Raven;  Sun;  Bible  and  Crown;  the  Dun- 
ciad ;  and  the  Star. 

The  Rivingtons  constitute  an  old  and  highly- 
respectable  firm,  with  premises  extending  from 
the  front  to  St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  The  earliest 
of  this  family  whom  I  have  been  able  to  trace 
was  Charles,  whose  name  appears  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  certain  he 

3* 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

carried  on  business  here  as  early  as  1710.  In 
1730  his  name  is  joined  with  that  of  Thomas 
Longman  and  some  others,  as  publishers  of  Thu- 
anus's  great  historical  work.  He  died  in  1742, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John.  This  family 
has  always  been  distinguished  for  its  zealous  at- 
tachment to  the  Church  of  England,  and  has  con- 
sequently enjoyed  an  intimate  connexion  with  the 
established  clergy.  It  is  related  of  John  Riving- 
ton,  that  he  was  a  very  assiduous  attendant  on  the 
services  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  was  seldom 
absent  from  the  early  morning  prayers,  at  six  or 
seven  o'clock.  If  surprised  by  the  bell  before  he 
had  quitted  his  bed,  he  has  been  known  to  put  on 
his  clothes  hastily,  and  finish  dressing  in  the 
church,  during  the  service.  He  died  in  1792,  at 
the  age  of  73,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  two  sons, 
Francis  and  Charles,  who  constituted  the  firm 
when  I  first  became  acquainted  with  the  Metropo- 
lis. The  first  died  in  1822,  and  the  second  some 
time  in  1831.  The  Rivingtons  engaged  largely  in 
the  publishing  trade,  but  chiefly  in  books  relating 
to  the  Established  Church.  In  1791,  during  the 
political  and  religious  excitement  produced  by 
the  French  Revolution,  they  commenced  the 
"British  Critic,"  a  monthly  review  of  literature, 
professedly  intended  to  uphold  the  tenets  of  the 
32 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

Established  Church,  and  the  Tory  politics  of  the 
ruling  government.  The  principal  and  most  in- 
fluential periodical  of  this  class  was  the  "Monthly 
Review,"  which  was  ably  conducted  by  Dr.  Grif- 
fiths, who  had  the  assistance  of  several  eminent 
writers.  The  first  number  was  published  in  May, 
1749,  when  he  carried  on  the  trade  of  a  book- 
seller at  the  "Dunciad,"  in  Ludgate  Street.  In 
1754  he  removed  to  a  new  shop  in  Paternoster 
Row,  afterwards  occupied  by  H.  D.  Symonds,  and 
in  1759  to  the  Strand,  where  he  continued  his  orig- 
inal sign  of  the  Dunciad.  On  relinquishing  busi- 
ness in  1764,  he  committed  the  publication  of  the 
Review  to  Mr.  Becket.  Dr.  Griffiths  died  at  Turn- 
ham  Green,  in  1803.  After  his  death  the  Review 
was  conducted  by  his  son,  Colonel  Griffiths.  At 
his  decease  the  copyright  was  sold,  but  the  pub- 
lication was  not  long  continued.  At  the  time  of 
which  I  am  writing1,  there  were  two  other  re- 
views, published  monthly — the  "Critical"  and 
"Analytical" — both  of  which,  as  well  as  the 
"Monthly,"  were  the  property  of  the  liberal  dis- 
senters. Under  these  circumstances  it  was  thought 
desirable  to  bring  out  another  Review,  which 
should  counteract  and  neutralize  their  principles 
as  much  as  possible;  and,  at  the  same  time,  de- 
velop and  sustain  the  religious  and  political  opin- 

33 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

ions  of  the  party  who  were  attached  to  the  Es- 
tablished Church.  Hence  originated  the  "British 
Critic,"  as  an  antagonistic  publication.  It  was 
projected  and  conducted  by  two  learned  and  able 
clergymen,  the  Rev.  Richard  Nares,  and  the  Rev. 
Wm.  Beloe,  the  translator  of  Herodotus,  who  were 
aided  and  supported  in  the  undertaking  by  Dr. 
Parr  and  other  eminent  writers.  It  may  well  be 
supposed  the  articles  contributed  by  such  men 
were  distinguished  by  erudition  and  general  lit- 
erary merits;  and  yet  the  Review  was  never,  I 
believe,  a  popular  or  profitable  work.  Of  late  years 
it  has  been  changed  from  a  monthly  to  a  quar- 
terly publication.  In  association  with  Mr.  Nares, 
was  my  old  and  much-respected  friend,  the  Rev. 
John  Whitaker,  author  of  a  Life  of  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots,  and  of  many  other  learned  and  "party- 
coloured"  works.  He  was  very  severe  in  his  crit- 
icisms on  those  authors  whose  religious  and  polit- 
ical opinions  differed  from  his  own  prejudices. 

Another  periodical,  published  by  the  Riving- 
tons,  was  the  Annual  Register,  originally  brought 
out  by  Dodsley,  with  the  literary  aid  of  Edmund 
Burke.  The  Rivingtons  purchased  the  copyright, 
and  continued  the  work  on  its  original  Tory  prin- 
ciples. It  was  for  some  years  edited  by  Mr.  R.  A. 
Davenport.  The  principal  books  of  the  orna- 

34 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

mental  class  published  by  the  Rivingtons  were 
those  written  by  the  late  Mr.  Donovan,  on  several 
subjects  of  natural  history.  He  was  an  excellent 
naturalist,  and  an  accurate  and  skillful  draughts- 
man. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  Row,  near  the  prem- 
ises described,  was  located  Robert  Baldwin,  at  the 
time  of  which  I  am  writing.  He  was  greatly  es- 
teemed as  an  upright  and  honourable  tradesman. 
For  many  years  he  published  the  "London  Maga- 
zine," which  commenced  almost  as  early  as  the 
"Gentleman's,"  the  first  number  bearing  the  date 
of  1732.  This  was  for  many  years  a  very  pop- 
ular periodical.  Mr.  Baldwin  died  in  1810.  His 
nephew  and  successor  commenced  a  new  maga- 
zine in  1820,  with  the  same  title,  under  the  avowed 
editorship  of  John  Scott,  a  young  author  of  excel- 
lent character  and  considerable  literary  talents. 
The  work  was  proceeding  very  satisfactorily,  and 
rising  into  popularity,  when  the  editor  was  un- 
happily involved  in  a  quarrel,  which  ended  in  a 
duel.  The  meeting  was  conducted  by  young  men 
wholly  unaccustomed  to  such  affairs  of  "honour," 
and  the  fatal  result  of  the  rashness  and  inexperi- 
ence of  his  second  was  the  cause  of  the  death  of 
Mr.  Scott.  In  traversing  Lincolnshire  for  the 
Beauties  of  England,  in  the  year  1810,  I  met  Mr. 

35 


LITERARY  LONDON. 


Scott,  at  Stamford,  where  he  was  engaged  by  Mr. 
Drakard,  to  edit  a  new  weekly  newspaper,  which 
the  latter  had  started.  The  high  tone  of  politics 
and  powerful  writing  of  Mr.  Scott  soon  attracted 
popularity,  and  the  writer  was  invited  to  contrib- 
ute articles  to  some  of  the  London  periodicals. 
These  also  excited  both  the  admiration  and  envy 
of  many  readers  and  authors.  A  controversy  arose 
in  the  London  Magazine  and  in  Blackwood's  Ed- 
inburgh, which  became  sarcastic,  vindictive,  and 
personal,  and  ended  as  above  stated,  in  a  manner 
which  created  a  mingled  sensation  of  sorrow  and 
horror  in  many  minds.  The  magazines  and  news- 
papers of  the  time  were  much  occupied,  after- 
wards, with  a  succession  of  papers  on  the  cere- 
monies, folly,  and  unhallowed  practices  of  duel- 
ling. At  the  time  of  penning  this  note  (June, 
1852)  "an  affair  of  honour,"  as  a  duel  is  misnamed, 
has  occurred  between  two  "honourable  gentle- 
men" of  the  House  of  Commons,  which  has  for- 
tunately turned  the  event  into  ridicule,  and  will  be 
likely  to  produce  good  moral  effects. 

Charles  Baldwin,  brother  of  Robert,  had  an  ex- 
tensive printing  business  in  Bridge  Street,  Black- 
friars,  and  realized  much  profit  by  printing  the 
"St.  James's  Chronicle,"  a  newspaper  which  at  one 
time  attained  great  popularity.  It  is  still  conduct- 
as 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

ed  by  his  son,  Charles,  who  is  also  its  printer,  and 
it  is  said  he  is  joint  proprietor  of  the  "Morning 
Herald,"  and  the  "Standard."  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  the  highest  respectability,  and  of  extensive 
knowledge. 

The  Robinsons,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries,  when 
I  first  became  acquainted  with  the  firm,  carried  on 
the  largest  business  of  any  house  in  London,  as 
general  publishers,  and  also  as  wholesale  and  re- 
tail booksellers.  George,  the  head  and  founder 
of  the  house,  had  been  an  assistant  to  John  Riv- 
ington,  and  about  1763  embarked  in  business  in 
partnership  with  John  Robinson,  at  whose  death, 
in  1776,  he  was  left  alone  in  the  concern.  His 
rising  reputation  for  personal  integrity  and  steady 
habits  of  business  recommended  him  to  the  friend- 
ly notice  of  Thomas  Longman,  the  second  pub- 
lisher of  that  name,  who,  well  knowing  the  diffi- 
culties which  young  tradesmen  had  to  encounter 
with  a  deficient  capital,  voluntarily  offered  to  give 
him  any  credit  he  might  require  for  books  of  his 
publication.  By  unremitting  attention,  and  the 
judicious  application  of  strong  natural  talents, 
his  business  steadily  and  rapidly  increased,  so  that 
by  the  year  1780  his  wholesale  trade  had  become 
the  largest  in  London.  About  that  time,  the  ne- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

cessity  for  assistants  in  the  management  of  the 
concern  led  him  to  take  into  partnership  his  son, 
George,  also  the  two  brothers,  John  and  James, 
the  firm  being  then  designated  that  of  G.,  G.,  J. 
and  J.  Robinson.  They  published  largely  books 
of  considerable  size  and  of  great  value.  The  head 
of  the  firm  was  considered  to  have  an  excellent 
judgment  in  the  difficult  and  often  critical  under- 
taking of  the  superintendence  and  management  of 
the  literary  concerns  of  a  publishing  establish- 
ment. He  greatly  respected  meritorious  authors, 
and  acted  with  singular  liberality  in  his  pecuniary 
dealings  with  them.  Besides  the  works  of  which 
they  were  the  sole  proprietors,  they  were  engaged 
jointly  with  several  of  the  principal  houses  in 
numerous  works  of  great  extent,  such  as  Kippis's 
"Biographia  Britannica." 

In  1780  they  commenced  the  "Annual  Regis- 
ter," following  the  plan  of  Dodsley's,  but  advocat- 
ing a  different  system  of  politics.  They  engaged 
in  the  preparation  and  conducting  of  this  work 
gentlemen  of  high  character  and  established  lit- 
erary reputation,  by  which  it  soon  acquired  great 
popularity.  The  current  sale  of  each  volume,  for 
many  years,  exceeded  7000  copies.  They  were 
also  the  publishers  of  the  "Town  and  Country 
Magazine,"  of  which  there  were  sold  about  14,000 
38 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

copies,  monthly;  and  of  the  "Ladies'  Magazine," 
a  publication  for  a  long  period  of  equal  popularity 
and  emolument.  For  many  years  the  confidential 
friend  and  literary  adviser  of  the  house  was  the 
late  Alexander  Chalmers,  who  possessed  many 
qualifications  for  that  delicate  and  difficult  office. 
He  is  said  to  have  contributed  largely  to  their  sev- 
eral periodicals,  and  had  a  prominent  share  in  the 
editorial  direction  of  the  "Biographical  Diction- 
ary," which  extended  to  32  volumes  8vo.,  and  was 
in  progress  of  publication  from  1812  to  1817. 
Having  often  had  occasion  to  refer  to  this  work, 
in  the  expectation  of  finding  full  and  accurate  in- 
formation, with  discriminating  comments  on  the 
writings  and  merits  of  the  authors,  whose  me- 
moirs it  professes  to  narrate,  I  have  too  often  been 
disappointed  and  mortified.  A  good  Biographia 
Britannica  is  a  literary  desideratum.  I  cannot 
conscientiously  praise  the  execution  of  this  Dic- 
tionary, yet  I  feel  sincere  respect  for  the  man,  and 
admiration  of  manv  of  his  literary  works.  He 
was  a  truly  estimable  professional  literary  char- 
acter, and  it  is  said  that  "no  man  conducted  so 
many  works  for  the  booksellers  of  London;  and 
his  attention  to  accuracy  of  collation;  his  depth 
and  research  as  to  facts,  and  his  discrimination  as 
to  the  character  of  the  authors  under  his  review, 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

cannot  be  too  highly  praised."  Such  is  the  remark 
of  Mr.  Timperley,  in  his  "Dictionary  of  Printing 
and  Printers,"  1839.  Besides  writing  for  several 
periodical  works,  Mr.  Chalmers  edited  "The  Brit- 
ish Essayists,"  in  48  vols.  i8mo.  1803;  an  edition  of 
Steevens's  Shakspeare,  with  Life  and  Notes,  9 
vols.  8vo.  1803 — 1805;  A  History  of  the  Colleges, 
&c.,  of  Oxford,  2  vols.  8vo.  1810;  an  edition  of 
"The  English  Poets,  from  Chaucer  to  Cowper," 
21  vols.  royal  i8mo.  1810.  He  was  also  author 
of  an  original  work,  in  3  vols.  second  edition,  1815, 
which  had  previously  appeared  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  intituleu  "The  Projector,"  a  periodical 
paper,  originally  published  between  January  1802 
and  November  1809.  Of  this  work  Mr.  Timperley 
fairly  writes  that  "it  successfully  seized  on  the  fol- 
lies and  vices  of  the  day;  and  has  displayed  in  their 
exposure  a  large  fund  of  wit,  humour,  and  delicate 
irony."  Mr.  Chalmers  was  a  pleasant,  convivial 
companion,  which,  with  his  conversational  talents, 
and  intimacy  with  the  principal  London  publish- 
ers, secured  him  a  seat  at  the  Hall  Dinners  of  the 
Stationers'  Company  at  all  their  public  meetings. 
I  met  Mr.  Chalmers  frequently,  and  ever  found 
him  cheerful,  communicative,  and  friendly.  He 
died  Dec.  10,  1834,  aged  75. 

Though  George  Robinson  had  succeeded  in  ere- 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

ating  and  sustaining  the  largest  bookselling  and 
publishing  trade  of  his  time,  he  failed  to  provide 
for  his  successors  that  mental  organization  and 
machinery  which  were  indispensable  for  continu- 
ing it:  conscious  that  the  concern  was  of  his  own 
creating,  he  seems  to  have  thought  that  he  could 
not  keep  the  management  too  exclusively  to  him- 
self. His  son  and  his  brothers  he  admitted,  in- 
deed, into  partnership,  and  assigned  to  each  his 
place  and  duties;  but  they  were  treated  by  him 
rather  as  agents  than  principals.  He  was  king  and 
autocrat;  and  whilst  he  conceded  to  them,  nom- 
inally, the  position  of  equals,  in  rank,  he  carefully 
retained  the  supreme  and  ruling  power.  The  con- 
sequence became  painfully  manifest,  immediately 
after  his  death,  in  1801.  The  surviving  partners 
found  themselves  engaged  in  a  large  and  intricate 
business,  of  which  neither  of  them  knew  much  be- 
yond the  particular  department  to  which  his  atten- 
tion had  been  almost  exclusively  devoted.  Igno- 
rant of  the  pecuniary  position  of  the  house,  of  the 
money  capital  at  their  disposal  for  sustaining  it, 
and  equally  so  of  the  means  and  method  of  its 
proper  application,  they  saw  no  hope  of  relief  but 
by  a  friendly  commission  of  bankruptcy.  The  af- 
fairs were  wound  up,  the  property  sold,  and,  to 
their  surprise,  it  was  found  that  there  was  enough 
41 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

to  satisfy  every  creditor,  in  full,  with  a  surplus  of 
£20,000.  The  surviving  partners  arose  from  this 
painful  investigation  with  their  personal  credit  and 
honour  untarnished,  but  their  commercial  im- 
portance had  departed. 

It  remains  that  I  now  give  some  account  of  the 
Longmans — the  first  of  whom  was  Thomas,  at  the 
sign  of  "the  Ship  and  Black  Swan,"  whose  name 
appeared  to  books  in  1726,  joined  with  Thomas 
and  John  Osborne.  He  appears  to  have  realized 
a  good  fortune,  and,  dying  in  1755,  left  the  prop- 
erty to  his  widow.  She,  with  the  nephew  of  her 
first  husband,  Thomas  Longman,  conducted  the 
business  for  some  time.  They  possessed  valuable 
copyrights,  in  Greek  and  Latin  school-books  of 
the  higher  class,  which,  at  that  time,  had  a  large 
sale.  This  nephew  was  esteemed  a  tradesman  of 
correct  judgment,  of  great  integrity  in  his  deal- 
ings, and  of  kindly  disposition.  I  had  opportuni- 
ties of  seeing  him  occasionally  towards  the  close  of 
his  life.  He  retired  from  business  about  1793,  re- 
taining only  so  much  of  it  as  was  connected  with 
the  sale  of  the  stock  belonging  to  his  copyrights, 
and  died  at  his  house  at  Hampstead  in  1797,  at  the 
age  of  60,  greatly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him. 
His  eldest  son,  Thomas  Norton  Longman,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  father's  business  as  wholesale  and 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

retail  bookseller  and  publisher,  on  the  same  plan 
and  scale,  his  principal  assistant  being  Christopher 
Brown,  the  father  of  my  excellent  friend,  Thomas 
Brown,  who  served  his  apprenticeship  to  Mr. 
Longman,  and  now  deservedly  occupies  the  hon- 
ourable post  of  a  principal  partner  in  the  house. 
In  1797,  my  eldest  brother,  Owen  Rees,  who  had 
been  thoroughly  trained  to  business  in  one  of  the 
principal  bookselling  houses  in  Bristol,  joined  Mr. 
Longman,  when  the  firm  was  briefly  designated, 
"Longman  &  Rees.''  Finding  his  health  'declining, 
in  1837,  he  determined  to  close  his  connexion  with 
the  house,  and  arrangements  were  made  with  this 
view.  Before  they  were  concluded,  he  went  to 
Wales  for  the  removal  of  what  was  deemed  a  tem- 
porary indisposition,  and  on  the  5th  of  September, 
died,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age,  upon  the  estate 
(then  his  own  property)  on  which  he  had  been 
born,  and  where  he  had  hoped  to  pass  some  years 
in  tranquil  retirement,  after  the  anxieties  and  fa- 
tigues of  a  long  life  of  arduous  and  unremitting 
application  to  business. 

Of  this  once-amiable  and  estimable  person,  I 
(Britton)  avail  myself  of  the  present  opportunity 
to  put  on  record  an  expression  of  my  own  warm 
feelings  of  attachment  and  sincere  friendship.  In- 
timately acquainted  with  him  for  nearly  forty 

43 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

years,  and  often  associated  in  the  counting-house, 
on  committees,  at  the  social  board,  and  in  other 
pursuits,  I  knew  him  well,  and  not  only  respected 
him  for  generosity  of  conduct  and  sentiment,  but 
for  that  friendly  and  kindly  disposition  he  mani- 
fested on  all  occasions.  Never  was  there  a  man 
who  more  fully  and  truly  acted  the  character  of 
"Harmony"  on  the  great  stage  of  the  world,  than 
Owen  Rees.  In  an  extensive  intercourse  with 
authors  and  artists,  with  booksellers  and  other 
tradesmen,  indeed,  with  all  classes  of  society,  he 
was  bland,  courteous,  candid,  and  sincere.  In  the 
numerous  meetings  of  the  partners  in  the  "Beauties 
of  England,"  when  I  was  but  little  known  to  or  by 
Mr.  Rees,  and  when  there  were  often  angry  con- 
tentions between  the  booksellers  and  the  authors, 
I  always  found  him  eager  and  anxious  to  recon- 
cile differences,  to  sooth  irritated  feelings,  and  en- 
deavour to  urge  the  authors  to  industry  and  perse- 
verance, and  his  colleagues  to  forbearance  and 
generosity.  Such  conduct  and  such  manners  could 
not  fail  to  create  a  friendly  feeling  in  my  heart, 
and,  from  a  more  intimate  connexion  with  him 
afterwards,  in  consequence  of  the  firm  having  a 
share  in  the  "Beauties  of  Wiltshire/'  the  "Architec- 
tural," and  the  "Cathedral  Antiquities,"  and  in 
others  of  my  literary  works,  I  invariably  found  a  sin- 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

cere  friend  in  Mr.  Rees.  Many  happy  hours  have  I 
spent  in  his  company,  in  Paternoster  Row  and  at 
my  own  humble  home,  and  never  saw  him  with  a 
frown  on  his  benignant  countenance,  nor  heard  a 
harsh,  ungenerous  sentiment  from  his  lips — I 
loved  him,  whilst  living,  and  have  often  lamented 
his  loss,  since  death  has  parted  us. 

In  1804,  Thomas  Hurst  and  Cosmo  Orme  were 
added  to  the  firm.  The  story  of  Thomas  Hurst 
may  afford  a  lesson  and  warning  to  speculators, 
and  also  to  generous-hearted  persons,  who  are 
susceptible  of  being  imposed  on  by  the  seductions 
of  the  cunning  and  crafty.  I  knew  him  some  years 
before  he  joined  the  firm  of  Longman  and  Co., 
and  found  him  then,  as  I  did  in  his  days  of  pros- 
perity, kind,  friendly,  and  generous.  At  first  he 
conducted  a  business  nearly  opposite  Longman's, 
and  supplied  several  country  booksellers  with  the 
London  publications.  By  diligence,  devotion  to 
his  customers,  and  obliging  manners,  he  soon  aug- 
mented his  property  and  profits,  and  was  doing 
well  when  he  joined  the  new  firm.  In  this  he  man- 
aged the  country  department,  and  was  highly  es- 
teemd  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  living  in  an 
elegant,  but  unostentatious  style,  with  a  carriage 
and  good  establishment,  on  the  brow  of  High- 
gate  Hill,  where  I  have  spent  many  joyful  hours  in 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  company  of  cordial  friends.  In  an  evil  mo- 
ment he  became  connected  with  an  artful  and  un- 
principled man,  who  was  engaged  in  a  good  book- 
selling business  in  Yorkshire,  and  who  afterwards 
embarked  in  a  large  and  daring  undertaking  in 
London.  John,  the  elder  brother  of  Thomas 
Hurst,  who  was  a  man  of  retiring  disposition,  of 
unassuming  manners,  and  of  punctilious  honesty 
of  principle,  was  partner  with  the  person  alluded 
to,  but  wholly  unfitted  for  the  hazardous  game  in 
which  he  became  involved.  He  was  quiescent, 
whilst  his  partner  was  artful  and  ostentatious. 
Their  capital  was  soon  sunk,  and  credit  was  then 
obtained  to  a  vast  extent;  for  the  partner,  not  sat- 
isfied with  a  large  business  in  books  and  prints, 
embarked  in  building  houses,  and  speculated  in 
hops.  The  elder  Mr.  Hurst  saw  and  felt  the  im- 
minent danger  in  which  he  was  embarked,  and 
prevailed  on  his  brother  to  sign  accommodation 
bills  to  a  great  amount.  He  had  not  courage  to 
refuse,  but  drew  in  the  name  of  the  firm,  of  the 
Row,  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  in  the  reg- 
ular routine  of  business.  Some  of  these  bills  were 
duly  paid,  but  they  became  so  numerous  and  to 
such  large  amounts,  that  Longman  and  Co.  re- 
quired an  explanation,  dissolved  the  partnership, 
and  bound  Mr.  T.  Hurst  to  be  personally  respon- 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

sible  for  all  further  outstanding  bills.  They  also 
paid  to  their  retiring  partner  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand pounds,  his  valued  share  in  the  house.  But 
even  this  sum  was  not  enough  to  meet  all  the  lia- 
bilities: whence  he  became  a  ruined  man.  He 
made  two  or  three  efforts  to  regain  credit  and  busi- 
ness; but  these  were  not  to  be  obtained.  The  el- 
der brother,  John,  died  broken-hearted ;  and 
Thomas  was  reduced  to  the  mortifying  state  of 
seeking  an  asylum  for  old  age,  as  an  inmate  to, 
and  dependant  on  the  charity  of  t'he  Charter 
House,  in  which  he  died  in  the  year  1850.  In  con- 
sequence of  some  subsequent  changes  occasioned 
by  the  death  of  my  brother,  and  later  by  that  of 
T.  N.  Longman,  the  retirement  of  Hurst  and 
Orme,  and  the  introduction  of  other  persons,  to 
take  their  places,  the  firm  has  assumed  its  present 
form  of  "Longman,  Brown,  Green,  and  Long- 
mans." After  the  introduction  of  these  new  part- 
ners, of  excellent  business  habits,  various  new 
schemes  for  the  enlargement  and  extension  of  the 
trade  were  carried  into  execution.  Hence,  within  a 
short  period,  the  house  rose  to  an  importance  and 
reputation  which  had  never  before  been  attained 
by  any  similar  establishment  in  the  world.  To  the 
retail  branch  they  devoted  a  distinct  department, 
to  which  was  joined  a  choice  and  extensive  library 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

of  old  books.  This  was  a  novelty  in  a  publishing 
house,  and  I  believe  that  it  originated  in  obtaining 
a  large  collection  of  scarce  and  curious  books,  on 
old  Poetry  and  the  Drama,  which  the  partners  had 
purchased,  for  a  very  large  sum,  from  Thomas 
Hill.  The  event  was  at  a  time  when  Bibliomania 
was  raging  in  London, — when  certain  noblemen 
and  gentlemen  were  in  the  habit  of  attending  sales, 
and  competing  for  large  and  tall-paper  books,  and 
for  rare  copies,  many  of  which  nad  become  so 
from  their  worthlesseness.  A  remarkable  Cata- 
logue, called  "Bibliotheca  Anglo-Poetica,"  of  the 

Hill  library,  was  prepared  in  1816  by Griffiths,  a 

clerk  in  Longman's  house,  and  secured  much 
praise  from  the  book-buyers,  and  the  learned  in 
black-letter  lore,  for  the  knowledge  and  tact  it 
manifested.  Thence  forward,  for  many  years,  the 
house  continued  to  purchase  largely  at  sales,  and 
from  individuals,  either  libraries  or  collections  of 
books,  and  occasionally  issued  catalogues.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Griffiths,  his  place  was  supplied 
by  Mr.  Reader;  but  within  the  last  few  years  the 
whole  collection  was  sold  by  public  auction.  I 
am  not  a  little  surprised  and  mortified  to  look  over 
the  pages,  and  meagre  Index,  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dib- 
din's  "Reminiscences,''  in  vain,  for  some  notice 
of  T.  Hill,  and  Mr.  Griffith's  "Bibliotheca."  The 
48 


PATERNOSTER   ROW*  ETC. 

general  wholesale  trade,  for  the  supply  of  country 
booksellers  in  the  British  Isles,  and  for  the  foreign 
markets,  surpassed  that  of  all  preceding  establish- 
ments; whilst  the  publishing  business,  if  it  cannot 
be  said  to  have  gone  beyond  that  of  any  other 
British  house,  was  unquestionably  inferior  to  none. 
In  adverting  to  the  publications  of  this  firm,  it 
is  curious  to  observe  one  name  of  some  eminence 
in  literature  and  science,  which  has  been  in  asso- 
ciation with  Longman  and  Co.  for  more  than  120 
years.  This  is  Ephraim  Chambers,  the  author,  or 
editor,  of  the  original  "Cyclopaedia,"  which  work 
was  first  published  by  subscription  in  1728,  in  two 
volumes,  folio.  It  soon  acquired  great  popularity, 
and  attained  a  second  edition  in  1738.  The  author, 
finding  his  health  impaired  by  literary  labours, 
went  to  France,  in  hopes  of  recruiting  his  mental 
and  bodily  strength,  and  at  the  same  time  collect- 
ing materials  for  his  projected  book.  I  have  in 
my  possession  some  interesting  letters  written  by 
him  during  this  tour,  addressed  to  his  publisher. 
The  "Cyclopaedia'7  was  reprinted  under  his  super- 
intendence in  1739,  and  was  his  last  literary  effort. 
His  constitution  gave  way,  and  he  died  in  May, 
1740.  The  work  was  again  reprinted  in  1741,  and 
also  in  1746,  when  it  was  thought  desirable  to  add 
a  Supplement,  to  embrace  the  more  modern  dis- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

coveries  in  science  and  in  the  arts.  This  Supple- 
ment, prepared  by  Dr.  Hill,  and  Mr.  G.  L.  Scott, 
was  published  in  1753,  in  two  folio  volumes.  After 
an  interval  of  some  years,  the  work  still  maintain- 
ing a  high  reputation,  the  proprietors  projected  a 
new  edition,  incorporating  the  Supplement,  to- 
gether with  new  matter  of  importance.  Some  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  finding  a  suitable  editor. 
At  last  Dr.  Abraham  Rees  was  chosen,  who  was 
then  mathematical  tutor  at  a  dissenting  college  in 
London,  and  had  acquired  considerable  reputation 
for  his  scientific  knowledge  and  literary  talents. 
The  first  number,  in  folio,  was  published  in  1778, 
and  the  work  was  continued  weekly  till  completed, 
in  418  numbers,  forming  four  large  volumes,  with 
numerous  prints.  The  current  sale  for  many  years 
amounted  to  5000  numbers  weekly,  and  there  was 
a  large  demand  for  the  work,  in  this  form,  for  a 
long  time  after  its  completion.  At  length  it  was 
found  expedient  to  publish  another  edition,  or 
rather  an  entirely  new  work,  under  the  same  title, 
and  under  the  same  learned  and  laborious  editor, 
who  called  to  his  aid  a  number  of  writers  holding 
high  rank  in  the  several  important  departments  of 
science.  The  work  received  the  designation  of  the 
"New  Cyclopaedia."  It  was  published  periodically, 
in  parts,  or  half  volumes,  and  appeared  regularly 

5° 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

till  completed  in  40  volumes.  The  publication, 
which  commenced  in  1802,  occupied  about  sixteen 
years;  but  the  labour  of  the  indefatigable  editor, 
including  the  period  of  preparation,  extended  over 
twenty  years,  measured,  as  he  said,  not  by  frag- 
ments of  time,  but  by  whole  days,  of  twelve  and 
fourteen  hours  each.  In  the  general  preface,  the 
editor  has  given  the  names  of  his  principal  coad- 
jutors, and  I  find  your  name  recorded  in  the  list, 
in  connexion  with  the  subjects  of  antiquities, 
topography,  &c.,  upon  which  you  furnished  many 
valuable  articles. 

I  had  the  gratification  of  introducing  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen  to  the  firm,  to  write  articles  on 
subjects  connected  with  their  professional  studies: 
E.  W.  Brayley,  who  wrote  on  Enamelling;  T.  Phil- 
lips, R.A.,  on  Painting;  and  Sharon  Turner,  on 
English  History.  The  last  gentleman  became  in- 
timate with  the  partners,  was  employed  by  them 
for  many  years  afterwards,  and  attained  great  pop- 
ularity and  handsome  remuneration  for  his  histor- 
ical works,  through  the  medium  of  such  publishers. 

Reminiscences  respecting  this  once  important 
work,  and  its  phalanx  of  contributors,  in  art,  lit- 
erature, and  science — of  their  frequent  intercourse 
at  the  Soirdes  which  the  publishers  established  at 
their  great  book  manufactory  and  mart,  No.  39, 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

&c.,  Paternoster  Row — are  impressed  on  my  mem- 
ory and  feelings  with  intense  pleasure,  mixed  with 
some  painful  emotions  of  having  for  ever  lost  the 
converse  and  excitement  which  emanated  from  the 
friendly  and  intellectual  collision,  then  and  there 
produced.  The  respectable  firm  of  Longman  and 
Co.  not  only  invited  and  assembled  nearly  all  the 
contributors  to  the  "Cyclopaedia,"  periodically  for 
several  successive  winters,  but  were  in  the  habit  of 
calling  many  of  them  together  around  the  social 
and  splendid  dining  table,  where  the  acknowl- 
edged professors  of  literature  and  art  met,  on  equal 
and  friendly  terms,  eminent  amateurs  of  both. 
Such  unions  were  novelties  in  England,  and  I  be- 
lieve, in  Europe ;  and  were  eminently  calculated  to 
foster  good  feelings,  and  promote  harmony  and  in- 
timacy between  persons  in  different  gradations  of 
trade,  literature,  art,  and  science.  Hence  friend- 
ships were  made;  new  discoveries  were  pro- 
claimed; opinions,  public  measures,  and  the  con- 
duct of  public  men,  canvassed ;  courtesies  and  civ- 
ilities were  exchanged  between  persons  whose 
studies  and  pursuits  were  often  in  rivalry,  and 
human  amenities  were  cultivated.  In  such  com- 
pany, and  under  such  influences,  I  own  that  I  not 
only  felt  elated  and  proud,  but  substantially  bene- 
fited, both  mentally  and  morally.  The  amiable 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

and  benignant  editor  of  the  "Cyclopaedia,"  who 
often  formed  one  of  these  parties,  seemed,  to  my 
fancy,  something  above  humanity:  for  never  was 
there  a  man  more  deservedly  beloved  and  respect- 
ed than  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham  Rees. 

Besides  giving  to  the  editor  the  assistance  and 
co-operation  of  eminent  writers  in  literature  and 
science,  the  proprietors  spared  no  expense  to  pro- 
vide artists  of  the  first  talents  for  its  illustrations. 
Among  those  who  furnished  drawings,  were  How- 
ard, Landseer,  Donovan,  Russell,  Opie,  Ottley, 
Phillips,  and  Farey;  while  among  the  engravers, 
were  Milton,  Lowry,  and  Scott.  The  "New  Cyclo- 
paedia'' was  in  all  respects  a  great  and  important 
undertaking.  It  embodied  writings  by  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  scientific  men  of  the  age,  on 
subjects  of  primary  consequence,  and  it  involved 
an  expense  almost  unexampled  in  the  history  of 
literature:  the  pecuniary  outlay  could  not  have 
been  less  than  300,000  pounds  sterling. 

Another  literary  speculation  of  considerable  im- 
portance, undertaken  in  1803,  was  the  "Annual 
Review,"  intended  to  comprise,  in  one  large  vol- 
ume, an  account  of  the  entire  English  literature  of 
each  year.  The  editorship  was  committed  to  Ar- 
thur Aikin,  whose  scientific  and  literary  attain- 
ments eminently  fitted  him  for  such  an  office.  He 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

was  ably  assisted  by  the  distinguished  members 
of  his  own  family,  and  by  many  persons  of  note  in 
the  literary  world:  among  whom  may  be  men- 
tioned, in  theology,  the  Rev.  Chas.  Wellbeloved, 
of  York;  in  natural  history,  the  late  Rev. 
Wm.  Wood,  of  Leeds;  and  in  general  literature, 
Robert  Southey,  and  William  Taylor,  of  Norwich. 
The  numerous  letters  by  Taylor  and  Southey,  in 
"A  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Writings''  of  the  for- 
mer, 2  vols.  8vo.,  by  J.  W.  Robberds,  are  truly  in- 
teresting, as  calculated  to  unfold  some  of  the 
mysteries  and  fascinations  of  authorship  and  re- 
viewing, as  well  as  characterising  two  writers, 
whose  works  produced  many  and  great  effects  in 
the  world  of  literature,  between  the  years  1793 
and  1836.  Though  not  much  known  to  the  read- 
ing community,  Mr.  Taylor  was  an  extraordinary 
writer;  and  from  the  number  and  variety  of  his 
criticisms  and  essays,  in  the  "Monthly  Magazine,'' 
the  "Monthly  Review,"  the  "Annual  Review,"  the 
"Anthenaeum,"  in  magazines,  and  other  period- 
icals, he  must  have  produced  strong  and  important 
results  on  the  readers  of  his  works.  The  work 
was  conducted  by  Mr.  Aikin  for  six  years,  when, 
in  consequence  of  new  arrangements  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  literary  concern  of  the  house,  I  un- 
dertook to  prepare  the  seventh  volume.  In  this 


PATERNOSTER    ROW,  ETC. 

arduous  task  I  was  materially  aided  by  most  of  the 
gentlemen  who  had  lent  their  service  to  my  es- 
teemed predecessor,  and  I  had  the  gratification  of 
receiving  a  valuable  contribution  from  Walter 
Scott,  on  a  subject,  for  the  treatment  of  which  he 
was  perhaps  the  fittest  writer  of  the  age; — "An- 
cient Romance."  With  the  seventh  volume  the 
work  ceased. 

In  the  year  1807,  Longman  and  Co.  entered  on 
the  publication  of  a  new  periodical,  called  "The 
Anthenaeum,"  under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  Aikin, 
in  competition  with  the  "Monthly  Magazine," 
which  had  been  commenced  a  few  years  before  by 
Mr.  R.  Phillips,  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  This 
publication  consisted  of  monthly  numbers,  at  one 
shilling  each,  was  continued  to  the  close  of  the 
seventh  half-yearly  volume,  and,  under  the  able  ed- 
itorship of  Dr.  Aikin,  assisted  by  the  contributions 
of  various  members  of  his  own  family,  with  Dr. 
Enfield,  and  other  persons  of  distinction  in  litera- 
ture, had  acquired  great  popularity.  The  projec- 
tor was  at  the  time  regarded  as  a  sufferer  from  his 
political  principles;  and  Dr.  Aikin,  with  other 
friends  to  liberal  opinions  in  politics,  readily  es- 
poused his  cause,  and  lent  their  talents  to  assist 
him.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the  magazine  ob- 
tained an  extensive  circulation,  than  Phillips  took 

55 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  entire  management,  and  dispensed  with  the 
services  of  his  first  friend.  The  magazine,  how- 
ever, if  it  lost  from  this  cause  much  of  the  literary 
excellence  and  refinement  which  had  characterized 
the  earlier  numbers,  retained,  by  his  judicious  se- 
lection of  miscellaneous  matters  of  general  inter- 
est, its  hold  of  the  popular  mind,  and  commanded 
a  very  extensive  sale.  It  occurred  to  Longmans 
that  a  magazine,  which  should  be  devoted  to  topics 
of  a  higher  literary  character,  might  be  successful ; 
and  under  this  conviction  they  projected  the  peri- 
odical above-mentioned,  under  the  title  of  "The 
Athenaeum."  The  work  included  contributions  by 
Dr.  Falconer,  of  Bath,  and  Mr.  Dewhurst,  of  Lon- 
don; Robert  Southey, — Bland,  Elton,  and  many 
others.  On  this  periodical  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
acting  as  sub-editor,  and  furnished  for  it  most  of 
the  larger  articles  of  obituary.  But  the  sale  did 
not  yield  an  adequate  return  to  compensate  the 
publishers,  and  the  work  was  on  that  account  re- 
linquished. 

Not  long  after  the  discontinuance  of  the  "Athe- 
naeum," the  house  embarked  in  an  undertaking  of 
great  magnitude  and  expense,  entitled  "The  Brit- 
ish Gallery  of  Pictures,"  which  was  intended  to 
consist  of  fine  engravings  from  the  best  works  of 
the  old  masters,  in  the  private  collections  of  Eng- 
56 


PA  TERNOSTER   HOW,  ETC, 

lish  noblemen,  &c.,  some  of  the  prints  being  col- 
oured in  imitation  of  the  originals.  In  the  plan  of 
this  work  two  objects  were  embraced: — firstly, 
small  prints,  including  all  the  pictures  in  certain 
celebrated  collections;  and,  secondly,  copies  of  a 
selected  number  only  of  the  more  important  and 
admired  works.  The  latter  prints  were  on  a  larger 
scale  than  the  former,  some  being  of  the  actual  size 
of  the  original  pictures.  Each  series  was  accom- 
panied by  appropriate  letter-press,  and  the  prints 
in  both  cases  were  coloured.  Eminent  artists  were 
employed  to  copy  the  pictures  for  engraving,  as 
well  as  to  colour  the  prints.  Among  the  engrav- 
ers were  Cardon,  Schiavonetti,  and  other  able 
artists;  and,  whilst  the  artistic  arrangements  were 
entrusted  to  Tomkins,  the  literary  department  was 
confided  to  Henry  Tresham,  R.A.,  and  W.  Y.  Ott- 
ley;  both  gentlemen  being  well  qualified  for  their 
respective  duties.  An  immense  outlay  was  in- 
curred upon  this  work,  which  was  carried  on  for 
some  years  with  great  spirit;  but  it  proved  to  be  a 
very  profitable  speculation,  and  was  brought  to  a 
premature  close,  when  the  only  portion  really  fin- 
ished was  the  Cleveland-house  collection,  in  one 
volume,  folio.  The  water-colour  drawings  from 
the  original  pictures  had  been  exhibited  to  the 
public  in  a  gallery  specially  appropriated  to  them 

57 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

in  Bond  Street;  and,  on  the  termination  of  the 
work,  the  proprietors  obtained  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment to  dispose  of  the  pictures,  with  the  engrav- 
ings, by  lottery. 

But  whilst  the  house  thus  employed  a  large  cap- 
ital, in  the  production  of  what  may  be  termed  per- 
iodical works,  it  was  liberal  in  the  appropriation 
of  other  portions  to  standard  books,  on  important 
literary  subjects,  by  authors  of  the  most  distin- 
guished reputation.  Amongst  these  were  the  Aik- 
ins,  Scott,  Moore,  and  Southey.  Complaints  have 
often  been  made  of  the  sordid  spirit  of  booksellers, 
and  their  inadequate  remuneration  of  authors.  No 
doubt  writers  are  often  very  badly  paid  for  works 
upon  which  they  have  bestowed  much  time,  la- 
bour, and  talent;  and  the  cause  of  literature  has, 
it  may  be  believed,  suffered  on  this  account.  But 
I  am  quite  sure  the  evil  has  not  always  originated 
with  publishers,  who,  like  other  tradesmen,  give 
for  the  material  the  amount  which  they  deem  it 
to  be  worth  in  respect  to  the  profit  it  is  likely  to 
yield.  Generally,  I  believe — and  I  speak  from  a 
long  experience — the  booksellers  act  with  com- 
mendable liberality.  A  reference  to  a  list  of  prices 
given  by  Lintot  to  authors,  early  in  the  last  cen- 
tury— a  curious  document,  printed  by  Nichols,  and 
now  in  my  possession — shows  that  authors,  at  that 
58 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

time,  were  handsomely  paid.  In  well-known  in- 
stances, booksellers  of  a  later  date, — the  Robin- 
sons, the  Dillys,  the  Johnsons,  the  Cadells,  the 
Murrays,  and  lastly  the  Longmans, — have  dealt 
most  liberally  by  authors,  and  on  some  occasions 
have  given  sums  of  large,  not  to  say  exorbitant 
amount,  for  manuscripts,  on  the  bare  supposition 
that  the  returns  might  justify  the  expenditure,  and 
yield  a  fair  trading  profit.  In  my  personal  knowl- 
edge, I  can  say  that  the  firm,  now  alluded  to,  al- 
ways acted  in  such  transactions  with  great  and 
generous  spirit. 

At  a  later  period,  Oct.  1802,  Longman  and  Co. 
became  part-proprietors  and  London  publishers 
of  the  "Edinburgh  Review.''  This  produced  them 
an  important  accession  of  literary  friends  of  emi- 
nent abilities,  among  whom  were  Walter  Scott, 
Rev.  Sidney  Smith,  Francis  Jeffrey,  Henry  Brou- 
gham, Francis  Horner,  James  Mill,  and  others. 

About  this  time  they  became  connected  also 
with  John  Pinkerton,  the  author  of  "General  Ge- 
ography," which  appeared  first  in  three,  and  after- 
wards in  two  quarto  volumes.  It  was  a  work  of 
great  labour,  being  written  and  compiled  from  the 
best  authorities  in  the  European  languages,  and 
illustrated  by  numerous  maps,  engraved  by  Low- 
ry.  Pinkerton  also  prepared  a  large  "General  At- 

59 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

las,"  a  well-executed  folio  volume;  and,  more  es- 
pecially, a  "Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels," 
in  sixteen  quarto  volumes,  with  prints  by  the 
Cookes  and  others.  These  large  and  costly  works 
were  the  joint  property  of  Longman  and  Co.  and 
Cadell  and  Davies.  Pinkerton  was  a  singular  and 
degraded  man.  I  (Britton)  was  made  too  well  ac- 
quainted with  him  for  my  own  reputation  and  for 
my  own  domestic  comforts.  He  rented,  and  occu- 
pied, for  a  short  time,  a  house,  No.  9,  Tavistock 
Place,  next  door  to  my  own.  His  home  was  fre- 
quently a  place  of  popular  disturbance,  by  females 
whom  he  had  married,  or  lived  with,  and  deserted. 
When  in  want  of  money,  or  over-excited  by  drink, 
they  knocked  at  his  door,  broke  the  windows, 
and  otherwise  behave  riotously.  He  was  a  dis- 
reputable character;  and  though  he  had  been  most 
liberally  paid  by  Longman's  house,  he  went  to 
Paris  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and  died  in  pov- 
erty in  1826.  He  was  an  author  of  several  works, 
in  poetry,  history,  geography,  criticism;  all  of 
which,  says  the  writer  in  "The  Penny  Cyclopaedia," 
"with  all  their  faults,  not  only  overflow  with  curi- 
ous learning  and  research,  but  bear  upon  them  the 
impression  of  a  vigorous,  an  ingenious,  and  even 
an  original  mind.  His  violence  and  dogmatism, 

his  arrogance  and  self-conceit,  his  pugnacity  and 

60 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC, 

contempt  for  all  who  dissented  from  his  views,  but 
above  all,  his  shallow  and  petulant  attacks  upon 
the  common  creed  in  religion  and  morals,  have 
raised  a  general  prejudice  against  Pinkerton, 
which  has  prevented  justice  being  done  to  his  ac- 
quirements and  talents."  Mr.  Dawson  Turner 
possesses  a  large  collection  of  his  correspondence, 
from  which  two  octavo  volumes  have  been  pub- 
lished, but  not  much  to  the  credit  of  the  Scotch- 
man. A  later  speculation,  on  a  large  scale,  pub- 
lished by  Longman's  house,  was  "Lardner's  Cab- 
inet Cyclopaedia,"  in  small  I2mo.,  extending  to  133 
volumes;  for  which  many  distinguished  writers 
were  engaged,  and  heavy  expenses  were  incurred. 

For  several  years  it  was  the  custom  of  the  firm 
to  give  Dinners  at  certain  intervals,  when  the  part- 
ners assembled  around  their  hospitable  board  a 
number  of  authors  and  artists  of  high  reputation; 
and,  besides  these  more  limited  reunions,  they 
opened  the  house  in  Paternoster  Row,  one  even- 
ing in  the  week,  during  several  seasons,  for  a 
Soiree,  which  was  rendered  easily  accessible  to 
persons  of  literary  tastes,  and  from  all  countries. 

I  come  now  to  the  third  Class  of  booksellers 
who  chiefly  dealt  in  retail ;  whose  traffic  was  most- 
ly with  their  brother  tradesmen,  whom  they  sup- 
plied with  a  single  copy,  or  several  copies  of 

61 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

books,  at  what  was  called  the  trade  price,  which 
produced  them  only  a  small  profit.  Paternoster 
Row  contained,  at  that  time,  several  respectable 
booksellers  of  this  class.  Mr.  Bladon's  shop  was 
the  well-known  depository  of  old  plays.  You  may 
remember  to  have  seen,  some  years  ago,  in  Lead- 
enhall  Street,  a  large  hardware  warehouse,  which 
attracted  the  notice  of  all  passengers  by  its  filthy 
appearance,  both  on  the  outside  and  the  inside. 
The  proprietor  was  scarcely  less  notorious  on  ac- 
count of  his  dingy  aspect,  which  obtained  for  him 
the  designation  of  "Dirty  Dick."  Bladon  was 
greatly  respected  as  a  tradesman,  but  his  shop 
might  have  rivalled  the  Leadenhall  Street  reposi- 
tory for  its  affluence  in  dust  and  soot.  The  next 
to  be  noticed  is  Symonds,  who  carried  on  a  large 
business  in  the  sale  of  periodicals,  which  he  pur- 
chased in  quantities,  as  they  were  published,  and 
sold  singly,  or  in  small  numbers  to  booksellers' 
collectors,  at  the  wholesale  prices.  By  this  plan 
the  trade  was  greatly  accommodated,  and  his  own 
interest  promoted.  He  pursued  the  same  courst 
with  respect  to  the  more  popular  pamphlets  of  the 
day.  In  times  of  great  political  agitation,  such  as 
those  in  which  he  lived,  this  practice  of  publishing 
for  authors  was  not  without  danger,  as  Symonds 

had  the  misfortune  to  experience.     One  tract,  to 
62 


PATERNOSTER  ROW,  ETC. 

which  he  had  permitted  his  name  to  be  attached, 
who  pronounced  a  libel;  and  he  had  to  endure  the 
penalty  by  an  imprisonment  of  some  months  in 
Newgate,  where  I  once  visited  him.  He  died  in 
middle  life,  greatly  respected.  The  business  of  this 
house  was  afterwards  conducted  on  the  same  scale 
and  plan,  by  Mr.  Sherwood,  who  had  been  Mr.  Sy- 
monds'  active  and  valuable  assistant.  Contiguous 
to  this  shop  was  that  of  Parsons,  who  sold  books 
and  pamphlets  upon  the  same  plan,  but  on  a  less 
extensive  scale.  He  was  occasionally  a  publisher, 
on  his  own  account  His  chief  speculation  was  an 
edition  of  Hume  and  Smollett's  "History  of  Eng- 
land," in  i8mo.,  which,  like  that  by  Cooke,  was 
embellished  with  prints  and  portraits. 

Thomas  Evans,  though  advanced  in  age,  ranked 
among  the  retail  booksellers  of  the  Row.  He  was 
originally  a  porter  to  Johnson,  a  bookseller  of 
Ludgate  Street,  and  succeeded  to  the  business  of 
Howes,  Clarke,  and  Collins,  by  which  he  obtained 
respectability  and  a  good  fortune.  The  bulk  of 
his  property  he  bequeathed  to  Charles,  father  of 
the  present  T.  Brown,  already  noticed.  In  his  will, 
he  directs  that  his  funeral  expenses  do  not  exceed 
forty  shillings.  In  early  life  he  acted  as  the  pub- 
lisher of  the  "Morning  Chronicle,"  which  first  ap- 
peared in  1770,  and  in  that  capacity  had  the  mis- 
63 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

fortune  to  offend  Oliver  Goldsmith,  who  went  to 
the  office  and  unceremoniously  assailed  Evans 
with  a  stick.  The  sturdy  Welshman,  however, 
soon  recovered  from  his  surprise,  and  with  one 
blow  laid  the  poet  prostrate  on  the  floor.  Another 
of  the  retail  booksellers  of  this  period  was  John 
Walker,  who  for  some  time  officiated  as  (what  was 
called)  the  "Trade  Auctioneer."  He  was  greatly 
respected  by  his  neighbours.  In  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  his  name  was  familiar  to  the  public  as  pub- 
lisher of  Dr.  Wolcot's,  alias  Peter  Pindar's,  works. 
It  is  a  common  adage  that  there  are  "secrets  in  all 
trades;"  and  it  is  well  known  that  every  craft  and 
calling  has  its  peculiar  customs,  privileges,  and 
technicalities  of  language.  A  few  of  the  large 
wholesale  publishers  of  London  are  in  the  habit 
of  making  up,  either  annually  or  occasionally, 
what  are  called  "trade  sales ;"  when  they  prepare  a 
catalogue  of  their  large  stock  books,  and  distribute 
it  to  a  select  number  of  retail  dealers,  who  are  in- 
vited to  meet  the  publisher  and  his  auctioneer  at  a 
certain  tavern,  where,  after  partaking  of  an  early 
dinner,  the  "trade  auctioneer"  proceeds  to  dispose 
of  the  works  named  in  the  catalogue,  to  the  par- 
ties present.  The  various  lots  comprise  many 
copies  of  recently-published  works,  and  are  offered 
and  sold  at  rather  less  than  the  usual  trade  prices; 
64 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

the  purchasers  being,  moreover,  allowed  to  give 
bills,  at  three,  at  four,  eight,  twelve,  and  sixteen 
months,  according  to  the  amount  they  buy,  or  take 
a  moderate  discount  for  cash.  Hence  have  origi- 
nated two  great  evils  in  the  bookselling  business ; 
namely,  the  encouragement  to  print  large  editions 
of  books,  from  the  facility  of  disposing  of  them 
at  reduced  prices,  and  the  depreciation  of  those 
works  in  the  public  market,  by  copies  being  offered 
at  such  sales  much  below  their  original  prices. 
Mr.  Walker,  I  believe,  was  amongst  the  first  trade 
auctioneers,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Saunders,  a 
prompt,  off-hand  man,  whose  language  and  pe- 
culiarity of  manners  are  humorously  burlesqued  in 
"Chalcographiomania."  The  celebrated  William 
Hone  was  for  a  short  time  auctioneer  to  the  trade, 
but  was  irregular  in  his  accounts,  whence  arose 
many  embarrassments  in  after  life.  Two  large 
stock-holders  of  books  have  since  become  their 
own  salesmen,  on  these  occasions :  both  eminently 
qualified,  from  promptitude  of  thought  and  action, 
and  extensive  knowledge  of  business.  The  late 
Thomas  Tegg  of  the  "Poultry,"  when  I  first  knew 
him,  kept  a  small  shop  in  St.  John's  Street,  for 
pamphlets,  songs,  &c.  Thence  he  removed  to 
Cheapside,  where  he  accumulated  a  large  stock  of 
books,  and  established  an  evening  auction.  He 

65 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

afterwards  took  the  old  Mansion-house  in  the 
Poultry,  and  progressively  published  numerous 
books.  Having  settled  one  of  his  sons  in  Austra- 
lia, he  thereby  obtained  a  channel  for  the  sale  of 
large  editions  of  cheap  books,  and  deemed  it  ex- 
pedient to  adopt  the  practice  of  some  of  the  great 
publishing  firms,  by  making  up  an  annual  sale, 
and  acting  as  auctioneer.  My  friend,  Mr.  H.  G. 
Bohn,  has  followed  the  same  track,  and  has  as- 
tonished the  Metropolitan  traders  in'  literature  by 
the  stock  brought  forwaYd,  the  rapidity  of  dis- 
patch, and  the  novelties  he  has  introduced  into  this 
branch  of  London  business.  Mr.  Hodgson,  of 
Fleet  Street,  is  at  present  the  confidential  and  re- 
spected agent  of  the  London  publishers.  The 
poems  of  Peter  Pindar,  this  once  noted  and  power- 
ful satirist,  were  extensively  read  at  the  end  of  the 
last  century.  They  were,  however,  very  dear  to 
the  purchaser,  being  printed  in  thin  quarto  pam- 
phlets at  2s.  6d.  each,  and  containing  only  a  very 
small  portion  of  letter-press.  His  first  attacks,  in 
1782,  were  the  Royal  Academicians,  some  of  whom 
he  assailed  with  bitter  satire,  sarcasm,  and  irony. 
King  George  the  Third  was  next  vituperated,  in  a 
poem  called  "The  Lousiad,"  descriptive  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  an  animal,  unnamable  to  "ears  po- 
lite," being  seen  on  the  plate  of  the  monarch  at  a 

66 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

royal  dinner.  For  some  years  the  author  con- 
tinued to  publish  his  philippes  against  artists, 
royal  and  noble  personages,  and  also  on  some 
authors;  one  of  whom,  Wm.  Gifford,  who  had 
written  the  "Baviad  and  Mseviad/'  a  poem,  in 
which  many  of  the  authors  of  the  time  were  se- 
verely castigated,  also  wielded  his  galled  pen 
against  the  morals  and  poetry  of  Dr.  Wolcot.  This 
castigation  was  so  stringent  and  caustic  that  the 
Doctor  was  provoked  to  seek  his  lampooner  in 
the  shop  of  Mr.  Wright,  a  political  publisher,  of 
Piccadilly.  Thither  Peter  repaired,  with  a  stout 
cudgel  in  hand,  determined  to  inflict  a  summary 
and  severe  chastisement  on  his  literary  opponent. 
Gifford  was  a  small  and  weak  person ;  Wolcot  was 
large,  and  strengthened  by  passion,  but  he  was  a 
coward,  and  after  a  short  personal  struggle  was 
turned  into  the  street  by  two  or  three  persons, 
then  in  the  shop.  Gifford  afterwards  wrote  and 
printed  an  "Epistle  to  Peter  Pindar,"  with  an  "In- 
troduction and  Postscript,"  1800,  in  which  he  dealt 
out  a  most  virulent  and  unqualified  tirade  against 
the  Doctor.  It  acquired  great  popularity,  and  in  a 
few  weeks  attained  a  third  edition.  The  pamphlet 
has  not  any  publisher's  name.  This  was  the  sec- 
ond victory  which  Gifford  had  achieved  over  lit- 
erary opponents;  a  former  being  Anthony  Pas- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

event  was  related  to  me  by  the  Poet.  A  good  ac- 
count of  his  life  is  given  in  the  "Penny  Cyclo- 
paedia." Mr.  Cyrus  Redding,  who  had  been  familiar 
with  Wolcot  for  many  years,  gave  some  interest- 
ing anecdotes  of  him  in  the  "New  Monthly  Maga- 
zine," vols.  17  and  19;  and  has  recently  written 
further  notice  in  "The  Athenaeum"  for  May  and 
June  1852,  to  correct  certain  mis-statements  in 
Jerdan's  "Auto-Biography."  Wolcot  died  in  Som- 
ers-Town,  Jan.  13,  1807,  in  the  8ist  year  of  his 
age,  and  was  buried  at  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden. 

Mr.  Bent  was  a  bookseller  of  long  standing  in 
the  Row,  but  he  was  chiefly  known  as  the  pub- 
lisher of  that  very  useful  work,  the  "London  Cata- 
logue of  Books,"  first  printed  in  1799,  which  is  still 
continued  monthly  by  Mr.  T.  Hodgson.  This  gen- 
tleman is  also  editor  of  "The  London  Catalogue 
of  Books,  published  in  Great  Britain,  with  their 
Sizes,  Prices,  and  Publishers'  Names,  from  1814  to 
1846,"  8vo.  1846;  and  "Bibliotheca  Londinensis: 
a  Classified  Index  to  the  Literature  of  Great  Brit- 
ain during  Thirty  Years,"  8vo.  1848.  Bent  also 
published  "The  Universal  Magazine,"  a  periodical 
which  at  one  time  had  an  extensive  sale. 

I  may  conclude  my  list  of  retail  booksellers  with 
the  names  of  the  Wilkies,  brothers,  who  were  long 
respected  inhabitants  of  the  Row.  With  their  re- 


PATERNOSTER  ROW,  ETC. 

tail  business  they  carried  on  a  wholesale  trade  of 
some  extent  in  supplying  country  booksellers. 
One  of  the  brothers,  Thomas  Wilkie,  trafficked 
also  in  the  public  securities,  and  kept  an  office  for 
the  sale  of  lottery  tickets.  He  removed  to  Salis- 
bury, where  I  became  acquainted  with  him,  1798, 
and  found  him  obliging  and  kindly  disposed. 
Amongst  other  things,  he  told  me  that  on  the  first 
performance  of  Sheridan's  play  of  "The  Rivals," 
which  the  Wilkies  published,  the  author  was  so 
scantily  supplied  with  wardrobe,  that  he  borrowed 
a  shirt  of  Mr.  W.'s  father  to  witness  the  first  act- 
ing of  his  own  play,  but  forgot  to  return  the  said 
shirt;  as  he  did  also  a  few  guineas,  which  he  had 
borrowed  of  the  same  party. 

In  Ave  Maria  Lane,  the  firm  of  Scatcherd  and 
Letterman  carried  on  a  large  wholesale  country 
business.  Amongst  other  works  they  published, 
was  "London  and  its  Environs,  or  the  General 
Ambulator."  The  I2th  edition,  1820,  greatly  en- 
larged and  improved  by  Mr.  Brayley,  is  now  be- 
fore me,  and  is  a  very  useful  work,  though  sup- 
planted by  the  justly-popular  publications  by 
Charles  Knight:  "Pictorial  London,"  6  vols.  1841. 
In  the  same  lane,  the  house  of  Law  was  chiefly 
noted  for  school-books.  An  apprentice,  and  after- 
wards managing  clerk,  in  that  business,  was  Peter 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

Courtier,  whose  partiality  for  poetry  induced  him 
to  write  and  publish  a  volume  of  "Verses,"  some 
of  which  had  appeared  in  periodicals.  He  was  the 
first  mover,  in  and  an  active  supporter  of  "the 
School  of  Eloquence." 

The  Laws  were  succeeded  by  the  Whit- 
takers,  whose  active  exertions  and  skill  in 
business  speedily  increased  it  to  a  great  extent. 
Amongst  many  of  their  publications,  was  one  in 
five  volumes,  by  Miss  Mitford,  called  "Our  Vil- 
lage," which  has  passed  through  several  editions, 
and  is  justly  admired  for  the  vivid  fancy,  the 
pathos,  and  amiable  sympathy  which  pervade  its 
pages.  This  work  is  now  brought  into  two  vol- 
umes by  Mr.  H.  G.  Bohn,  and  issued  in  his  pop- 
ular series  of  books.  She  first  appeared  as  a  poet 
in  1810.  The  reader  will  find  some  pleasing,  and 
justly  complimentary,  remarks  on  Miss  Mitford's 
writings,  in  a  recently  published  and  interesting 
volume,  "A  Journal  of  Summer-time  in  the  Coun- 
try," by  the  Rev.  R.  A.  Willmott.  Second  edition, 
1832. 

William  Pinnock  was  author  of  a  long  list  of 
books,  which,  though  little  known  in  the  literary 
world,  have  been  of  great  value  in  the  advance- 
ment of  education  and  knowledge.  All  his  writ- 
ings have  been  adapted  and  addressed  to  the  ju- 


PATERNOSTER  ROW,  ETC. 

venile  age,  and  have  been  peculiarly  calculated  to 
"teach  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot,"  and  tempt  it 
to  pursue  the  path  of  learning  with  pleasantry  and 
even  fascination.  By  "The  London  Catalogue 
from  1814  to  1846,''  I  see  that  Pinnock  has  pro- 
duced twelve  volumes  of  Catechisms,  eight  of  His- 
tories, and  twenty-two  others  on  Grammar,  Lan- 
guages, Arithmetic,  Geography,  Poetry,  &c. 
These  books  have  all  been  very  popular  and  profit- 
able to  the  publishers,  though  the  author  has,  like 
too  many  other  improvident  ones,  known  the  gall- 
ing pressure  of  indigence. 

Near  Mr.  Law's  house,  was  the  printing  and 
publishing  establishment  of  J.  Wilkes,  who  be- 
came well  known  by  the  "Encyclopaedia  Londin- 
ensis,"  with  numerous  engravings,  a  work  which 
extended  to  twenty-six  volumes,  at  £63,  and  had  a 
considerable  sale.  The  names  of  Wilkes,  Ave-Ma- 
ria  Lane,  and  Encyclopaedia  Londinensis,  are  in- 
delibly impressed  on  my  (Britton's)  memory.  On 
my  first  visit  to  Salisbury,  in  1798,  I  assumed  the 
title,  or  rather  it  was  forced  upon  me,  of  Artist; 
and  Mr.  Easton,  a  bookseller  and  printer  of  the 
city,  asked  me  to  make  a  drawing  of  Salisbury 
Cathedral,  to  be  engraved  for,  and  published  in, 
the  great  "national  work"  above-named.  My  am- 
bition was  aroused,  but  I  was  terrified ;  for  I  knew 

73 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

not  how  or  where  to  begin,  nor  how  or  in  what 
manner  I  was  to  proceed,  even  if  I  dared  under- 
take such  a  herculean  task.  I  was  impelled  to  try; 
had  pencils,  rulers,  and  a  table  placed  opposite  the 
middle  of  the  North  chief  transept.  With  the  print 
from  Price's  "Survey,"  from  the  same  point,  be- 
fore me,  I  sketched,  and  scratched,  and  rubbed 
out;  and  continued  thus  occupied  for  three  suc- 
cessive days,  with  several  persons  looking  on,  and 
wondering  at  my  temerity  and  incompetency.  Of- 
ten have  I  reflected  on  this  scene  and  event;  and 
more  than  once  have  I  heard  friends,  who  were 
there,  remark  on  the  exhibition,  and  their  aston- 
ishment at  seeing  afterwards  a  tolerably-executed 
engraving  from  the  sketch  then  made. 

In  Stationers'  Court  was  the  warehouse  of  B. 
Crosby,  one  of  the  original  partners  in  the  "Beau- 
ties of  England  and  Wales,"  who  had  a  very  ex- 
tensive country  business,  which  has  for  some  years 
been  conducted  by  Simpkin  and  Marshall. 
Though  not  distinguished  as  publishers,  this  firm 
carries  on  the  largest  business  in  the  book-trade 
of  any  house  in  Europe,  and  is  only  rivalled  per- 
haps by  the  Harpers,  of  New  York.  The  only 
daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  Simpkin  is  the  wife  of 
the  most  enterprising  and  energetic  publisher  and 
bookseller  of  this  metropolis,  Henry  G.  Bohn, 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

whose  Catalogue  of  Books  of  1841  is  unprecedent- 
ed for  the  number,  value,  and  variety  of  its  articles. 
It  extends  to  no  less  than  1948  octavo  pages. 

This  paved  Court  is  associated  with  my  own 
personal  and  topographical  reminiscences  too 
memorably  to  be  passed  unnoticed.  In  this  cen- 
tral part  of  London,  resided  John,  Duke  of  Bre- 
tagne  and  Earl  of  Richmond,  during  the  reigns 
of  Edwards  II.  and  III.,  in  a  large  mansion  which 
was  afterwards  occupied  by  an  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
and  called  Pembroke's  Inn.  It  was  afterwards 
possessed  by  the  Company  of  Stationers,  who  re- 
built it  of  wood.  That  was  burnt  in  the  great  fire 
of  London,  after  which  the  present  plain,  taste- 
less Hall  was  erected.  According  to  Clarendon, 
the  stationers'  property  then  destroyed  was  valued 
at  £200,000.  Here  the  Company  of  Stationers 
hold  their  courts,  transact  their  business,  register 
and  deposit  books,  and  assemble  frequently  at  the 
festive  board.  At  two  of  the  Master's  feasts  I 
have  been  a  guest,  and  enjoyed  the  company,  con- 
versation, and  civic  repasts  with  much  zest.  The 
Portraits  preserved  here  remind  us  of  names  and 
literary  works  which  have  excited  our  curiosity 
and  gratified  our  feelings  in  early  reading  days. 
These  are  of  Richardson,  Prior,  Steele,  Hoadly, 
Nelson,  Dryden,  Alderman  Boydell,  and  others. 

75 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

The  first  was  one  of  the  Masters  of  the  Company, 
and  had  his  wife  painted  for  the  place,  to  keep  him 
company.  Leigh  Hunt,  speaking  of  these  por- 
traits says,  that  representing  the  author  of  Clarissa 
Harlowe  represents  him  as  a  "sensitive,  enduring 
man — a  heap  of  bad  nerves."  He  further  remarks, 
that  Hoadly,  "looks  at  once  jovial  and  decided, 
like  a  good-natured  controversialist."  Concerts, 
as  well  as  dinners,  were  frequently  performed  in 
this  hall.  Odes  and  other  pieces  were  written  for 
such  occasions.  Amongst  these,  DrydenVSong 
for  Saint  Cecilia's  Day,"  was  produced  in  1687; 
and,  ten  years  afterwards,  "Alexander's  Feast"  was 
written,  composed,  and  performed:  the  composer 
being  Jeremiah  Clarke,  who  shot  himself  "for 
love."  Though  the  Hall  and  Company  of  Sta- 
tioners are  associated  with  pleasant  memories, 
persons,  and  events,  there  are  others  which  tend  to 
lower  both  in  my  own  estimation.  From  the  com- 
mencement of  my  (Britton's)  literary  career  to  the 
present  time,  I  have  been  obliged  (by  Act  of  Par- 
liament) to  present  one  copy  of  every  book  which 
I  have  written  and  published  to  this  company. 
This  is  the  only  London  Company  whose  mem- 
bers are  restricted  to  their  own  craft.  It  is  called, 
"The  Mystery  or  Art  of  the  Stationers."  For  many 
years  the  said  Stationers  assumed  the  exclusive 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

privilege  of  publishing  all  the  almanacs  of  the 
country,  and  produced  many  which  were  frivolous 
and  illiterate  in  style  and  matter.  To  counteract 
these,  Charles  Knight  projected  and  published,  for 
"The  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge," in  1828,  "The  British  Almanac,"  which  has 
become  eminently  and  justly  popular,  and  has  also 
superseded  most  of  the  almanacs  which  dissemi- 
nated astrological  nonsense  and  literary  absurdity. 
The  reader  will  find  a  very  interesting  paper  on  the 
history  and  characteristics  of  almanacs  in  "The 
Companion  to  the  British  Almanac,"  for  1829;  also 
in  "The  London  Magazine,"  for  December,  1828. 

Proceeding  to  the  northwest  corner  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  we  recognize  a  name  associated  with 
the  earliest  recollections  of  youthful  readers, — 
that  of  Newberry,  who,  after  Carnan,  furnished  the 
largest  and  most  interesting  contributions  to  the 
juvenile  libraries  of  the  country.  On  the  death  of 
Newberry,  his  widow  continued  the  business  aid- 
ed by  John  IJarris,  who  afterwards  became  her 
successor.  He  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  his  son, 
who  soon  transferred  the  business  to  the  present 
firm  of  Grant  and  Griffiths. 

Francis  Newberry,  a  member  of  the  above-men- 
tioned family,  had  a  house  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Churchyard,  near  Cheapside,  where  he  sold  Dr. 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

The  first  was  one  of  the  Masters  of  the  Company, 
and  had  his  wife  painted  for  the  place,  to  keep  him 
company.  Leigh  Hunt,  speaking  of  these  por- 
traits says,  that  representing  the  author  of  Clarissa 
Harlowe  represents  him  as  a  "sensitive,  enduring 
man — a  heap  of  bad  nerves."  He  further  remarks, 
that  Hoadly,  "looks  at  once  jovial  and  decided, 
like  a  good-natured  controversialist."  Concerts, 
as  well  as  dinners,  were  frequently  performed  in 
this  hall.  Odes  and  other  pieces  were  written  for 
such  occasions.  Amongst  these,  DrydenVSong 
for  Saint  Cecilia's  Day,"  was  produced  in  1687; 
and,  ten  years  afterwards,  "Alexander's  Feast"  was 
written,  composed,  and  performed:  the  composer 
being  Jeremiah  Clarke,  who  shot  himself  "for 
love."  Though  the  Hall  and  Company  of  Sta- 
tioners are  associated  with  pleasant  memories, 
persons,  and  events,  there  are  others  which  tend  to 
lower  both  in  my  own  estimation.  From  the  com- 
mencement of  my  (Britton's)  literary  career  to  the 
present  time,  I  have  been  obliged  (by  Act  of  Par- 
liament) to  present  one  copy  of  every  book  which 
I  have  written  and  published  to  this  company. 
This  is  the  only  London  Company  whose  mem- 
bers are  restricted  to  their  own  craft  It  is  called, 
"The  Mystery  or  Art  of  the  Stationers."  For  many 

years  the  said  Stationers  assumed  the  exclusive 

76 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

privilege  of  publishing  all  the  almanacs  of  the 
country,  and  produced  many  which  were  frivolous 
and  illiterate  in  style  and  matter.  To  counteract 
these,  Charles  Knight  projected  and  published,  for 
"The  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge," in  1828,  "The  British  Almanac,"  which  has 
become  eminently  and  justly  popular,  and  has  also 
superseded  most  of  the  almanacs  which  dissemi- 
nated astrological  nonsense  and  literary  absurdity. 
The  reader  will  find  a  very  interesting  paper  on  the 
history  and  characteristics  of  almanacs  in  "The 
Companion  to  the  British  Almanac,"  for  1829;  also 
in  "The  London  Magazine,"  for  December,  1828. 

Proceeding  to  the  northwest  corner  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  we  recognize  a  name  associated  with 
the  earliest  recollections  of  youthful  readers, — 
that  of  Newberry,  who,  after  Carnan,  furnished  the 
largest  and  most  interesting  contributions  to  the 
juvenile  libraries  of  the  country.  On  the  death  of 
Newberry,  his  widow  continued  the  business  aid- 
ed by  John  tjarris,  who  afterwards  became  her 
successor.  He  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  his  son, 
who  soon  transferred  the  business  to  the  present 
firm  of  Grant  and  Griffiths. 

Francis  Newberry,  a  member  of  the  above-men- 
tioned family,  had  a  house  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Churchyard,  near  Cheapside,  where  he  sold  Dr. 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

sister,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  by  his  friend,  Dr.  Wm.  En- 
field,  also  by  Godwin,  Holcroft,  and  many  other 
writers.  Johnson  at  first  published  this  period- 
ical, as  agent  for  Phillips ;  and  his  extensive  con- 
nexion enabled  him  to  promote  its  success.  The 
speculative  proprietor  was,  however,  soon  induced 
to  open  a  small  shop  for  himself,  and  about  the 
same  time  he  also  undertook  the  task  of  editing 
his  magazine;  thus  dispensing  with  the  services 
of  two  of  his  best  friends.  The  "Monthly"  rapidly 
increased  in  popularity  and  profit,  and  for  many 
years  continued  to  be  a  valuable  property.  Phil- 
lips published  numerous  other  works,  chiefly  edu- 
cational; many  of  which  were  written  by  himself, 
but  appeared  under  the  names  of  popular  authors; 
who  probably  revised  the  proofs,  and  allowed 
their  names  to  be  attached,  for  a  pecuniary  consid- 
eration. Like  his  competitors,  Phillips  published  an 
"Encyclopaedia,"  professedly  under  the  editorship 
of  Dr.  Gregory ;  but  which  was  in  fact  mostly  writ- 
ten by  Jeremiah  Joyce,  whose  varied  scientific  at- 
tainments were  most  inadequately  appreciated.  In 
the  year  1807,  this  enterprising  publisher  served  as 
one  of  the  Sheriffs  of  London,  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  that  important  office  with  zeal,  energy, 
and  great  credit.  During  this  period  he  was 
knighted,  on  presenting  an  address  on  behalf  of 

So 


PATERNOSTER   ROW*  ETC. 

the  ministers.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  career  he 
suffered  severely  by  the  panic,  and  was  obliged 
to  surrender  his  business  to  his  creditors.  Besides 
numerous  original  papers  in  "The  Monthly  Mag- 
azine," Sir  Richard  was  also  author  of  the  follow- 
ing literary  works:  "A  Letter  to  the  Livery  of 
London,  on  the  Office  of  Sheriff,"  8vo.  1808;  "On 
the  Powers  and  Duties  of  Juries,  and  on  the  Crim- 
inal Laws  of  England,"  8vo.  1811;  "A  Morning's 
Walk  from  London  to  Kew,"  8vo.  1817;  "Golden 
Rules  of  Social  Philosophy,  or  a  New  System  of 
Practical  Ethics,''  8vo.  1826;  "A  Personal  Tour 
Through  the  United  Kingdom,"  8vo.  1828.  It  is 
also  stated  that  he  originated  and  published  num- 
erous treatises  on  "The  Interrogatory  System," 
in  school  education,  which  has  proved  eminently 
successful.  He  was  likewise  author  of  "Twelve 
Essays  on  the  Proximate  Causes  of  the  Universe," 
being  a  reformed  system  of  natural  philosophy; 
substituting  matter  and  motion  for  what  he  called 
"the  silly  superstitions  and  fancies''  of  attraction, 
repulsion,  &c.  These  works  abound  with  orig- 
inality of  thought,  expressed  in  terse  and  pungent 
language.  Though  the  "Walk  to  Kew"  and  the 
"Personal  Tour"  do  not  contain  much  topograph- 
ical and  antiquarian  information,  they  tempt  the 
reader  to  accompany  and  sympathize  with  the 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

writer,  by  the  fund  of  anecdote,  vivid  description, 
and  shrewdness  of  commentary,  which  pervade 
every  page.  In  reading  these  works,  the  young 
student  cannot  fail  to  regard  the  author  amongst 
the  philosophers  and  moralists  of  his  age  and 
country.  Sir  Richard  was  a  native  of  London, 
where  he  was  born  in  1767,  and  died  at  Brighton, 
April  ist,  1840.  He  thus  writes  to  me  from  Brigh- 
ton in  April  1838,  two  years  before  his  decease: 
"Your  friendly  letter  was  a  ray  of  sunshine  on  a 
very  dull  day.  You  struck  out  for  yourself  a  path 
of  literary  renown,  and  I  am  quite  sure  you  have 
reached  the  summit.  For  my  own  part,  my  pur- 
suits have  been  so  diversified  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  that  I  had  almost  forgotten  one  of  my 
youngest  literary  children — 'The  Walk  to  Kew.' 
Your  approbation  I  value,  because  on  such  a  sub- 
ject you  are  a  first-rate  judge.  You  must  have 
read  fifty  such  works :  I  never  read  one ;  and  there- 
fore, in  my  mind,  there  is  no  element  of  compari- 
son. I  had  no  design  of  the  book  when  I  took  the 
walk;  and  my  notes  were  very  scanty.  Had  it 
been  republished  with  a  dozen  good  engravings, 
it  might  have  become  popular.  Another  volume 
might  have  been  devoted  to  Hampton  Court,  and 
a  third  to  Windsor." 

The  name  and  house  of  Carrington  Bowles,  on 

82 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

the  north  side  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  were  noted 
for  the  number  and  variety  of  popular  Prints  which 
were  distributed  thence  all  over  the  country  at  the 
end  of  the  last  and  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
"Death  and  the  Lady,"  a  figure  half  skeleton,  half 
female — "Keep  within  compass,"  a  beau  with 
cocked  hat,  scarlet  coat,  &c.,  standing  between 
the  two  legs  of  a  pair  of  compasses,  and  other 
showy,  admonitory  pictures,  were  to  be  seen  in 
the  farm-houses  and  cottages  in  Wiltshire,  in  my 
youth-days,  whence  the  names  of  publisher  and 
place  were  impressed  on  the  young  mind.  The 
late  Mr.  C.  Bowles,  on  retiring  from  business  with 
a  handsome  fortune,  built  a  large  villa  or  mansion 
at  Enfield,  on  the  bank  of  the  New  River,  and 
called  it  Myddleton  House,  in  compliment  to  the 
adventurous  speculator  in  that  important  under- 
taking. Mr.  Bowles's  ancestor  possessed  shares  in 
the  New  River  Company,  which  were  bequeathed 
to  the  son,  who  for  many  years  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  that  jcompany.  He  was  a  Fellow  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  and  took  great  interest  in 
its  weekly  meetings. 

Charles  Dilly,  of  the  Poultry,  was  the  survivor 
of  two  brothers,  who  published  largely,  and  ac- 
cumulated handsome  fortunes.     On  relinquishing 
business,  he  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  Mawman, 
83 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

writer,  by  the  fund  of  anecdote,  vivid  description, 
and  shrewdness  of  commentary,  which  pervade 
every  page.  In  reading  these  works,  the  young 
student  cannot  fail  to  regard  the  author  amongst 
the  philosophers  and  moralists  of  his  age  and 
country.  Sir  Richard  was  a  native  of  London, 
where  he  was  born  in  1767,  and  died  at  Brighton, 
April  ist,  1840.  He  thus  writes  to  me  from  Brigh- 
ton in  April  1838,  two  years  before  his  decease: 
"Your  friendly  letter  was  a  ray  of  sunshine  on  a 
very  dull  day.  You  struck  out  for  yourself  a  path 
of  literary  renown,  and  I  am  quite  sure  you  have 
reached  the  summit.  For  my  own  part,  my  pur- 
suits have  been  so  diversified  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  that  I  had  almost  forgotten  one  of  my 
youngest  literary  children — 'The  Walk  to  Kew.' 
Your  approbation  I  value,  because  on  such  a  sub- 
ject you  are  a  first-rate  judge.  You  must  have 
read  fifty  such  works :  I  never  read  one ;  and  there- 
fore, in  my  mind,  there  is  no  element  of  compari- 
son. I  had  no  design  of  tfie  book  when  I  took  the 
walk;  and  my  notes  were  very  scanty.  Had  it 
been  republished  with  a  dozen  good  engravings, 
it  might  have  become  popular.  Another  volume 
might  have  been  devoted  to  Hampton  Court,  and 
a  third  to  Windsor." 

The  name  and  house  of  Carrington  Bowles>  on 

82 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

the  north  side  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  were  noted 
for  the  number  and  variety  of  popular  Prints  which 
were  distributed  thence  all  over  the  country  at  the 
end  of  the  last  and  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
"Death  and  the  Lady,"  a  figure  half  skeleton,  half 
female — "Keep  within  compass,"  a  beau  with 
cocked  hat,  scarlet  coat,  &c.,  standing  between 
the  two  legs  of  a  pair  of  compasses,  and  other 
showy,  admonitory  pictures,  were  to  be  seen  in 
the  farm-houses  and  cottages  in  Wiltshire,  in  my 
youth-days,  whence  the  names  of  publisher  and 
place  were  impressed  on  the  young  mind.  The 
late  Mr.  C.  Bowles,  on  retiring  from  business  with 
a  handsome  fortune,  built  a  large  villa  or  mansion 
at  Enfield,  on  the  bank  of  the  New  River,  and 
called  it  Myddleton  House,  in  compliment  to  the 
adventurous  speculator  in  that  important  under- 
taking. Mr.  Bowles's  ancestor  possessed  shares  in 
the  New  River  Company,  which  were  bequeathed 
to  the  son,  who  for  many  years  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  that  jcompany.  He  was  a  Fellow  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  and  took  great  interest  in 
its  weekly  meetings. 

Charles  Dilly,  of  the  Poultry,  was  the  survivor 
of  two  brothers,  who  publi'shed  largely,  and  ac- 
cumulated handsome  fortunes.     On  relinquishing 
business,  he  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  Mawman, 
83 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

of  York,  who  afterwards  removed  to  Ludgate 
Street,  where  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Fellows. 
Mr.  Mawman  published  "An  Excursion  to  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,"  &c.,  8vo.  1805,  which 
contains  two  prints  from  drawings  by  Turner. 

The  firm  of  Vernor  and  Hood  had  removed  the 
business  from  Birchin  Lane  to  the  Poultry,  where 
they  published  many  literary  works,  and  with 
whom  I  (Britton)  commenced  my  literary  career 
as  a  Topographer.  My  business  and  personal  con- 
nections with  that  House  involve  reminiscences  of 
persons,  books,  and  events,  which  would  afford 
matter  for  a  moderately-sized  volume.  From  the 
year  1799  to  1810,  I  was  in  almost  constant  com- 
munication with  Mr.  Hood,  who  was  the  manag- 
ing partner,  and  who  was  an  active,  persevering, 
punctilious  man  of  business.  The  House  attained 
considerable  distinction  in  the  literary  world  by 
the  publication  of  Bloomfeld's  "Farmer's  Boy/' 
and  other  volumes  of  poems  by  the  rustic,  self-ed- 
ucated author — by  the  exuberant  praises  of  Capel 
Lofft — by  the  publication  of  "The  Monthly  Mir- 
ror," under  the  editorship  of  Edward  Dubois  and 
Thomas  Hill — by  "The  Poetical  Magazine,"  ed- 
ited by  David  Carey,  who  had  published  "The 
Pleasures  of  Nature,"  with  other  poetry,  novels, 
&c.  Among  many  works  which  issued  from  this 
84 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

firm  was  "The  Beauties  of  Wiltshire"  and  "The 
Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,"  with  the  accom- 
panying "British  Atlas."  In  1808  the  House  ac- 
quired much  notoriety  by  a  trial  in  the  Court  of 
King's  Bench,  when  Sir  John  Carr  brought  an 
action-at-law  against  these  publishers  for  a  libel  on 
himself  and  his  literary  works.  This  author  had 
obtained  much  reputation  for  his  Tours  in  France, 
in  the  North,  in  Holland,  in  Ireland,  &c.,  and  has 
been  rewarded  by  different  publishers  with  nearly 
two  thousand  pounds  for  copyrights.  His  "Tour 
in  Holland,"  one  volume  4to,  1807,  which  was 
purchased  and  published  by  Sir  Richard 
Phillips,  was  turned  into  ridicule  by  Ed- 
ward Dubois,  in  a  sportive,  ironical,  and 
satirical  small  volume,  entitled  "My  Pocket 
Book,"  written  in  a  fluent,  anecdotical,  gossipping 
style.  The  "Tours"  were  much  read  and  abund- 
antly commented  on  by  the  regular  reviews  and 
by  daily  journals.  The  author  obtained  fame  ami 
fortune,  when  the  witty  and  caustic  satire  alluded 
to  provoked  him  and  the  publisher  to  prosecute 
the  writer  of  "My  Pocket  Book."  A  verdict  was 
given,  in  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  against 
the  plaintiff,  who  was  non-suited,  and  driven  from 
the  court  in  disgrace.  A  full  account  of  the  trial 
was  published,  with  several  letters  from  the  Earl 
85 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

of  Mountnorris,  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  and  the  au- 
thor of  "My  Pocket  Book" — Edward  Dubois.  See 
account  of  this  publication  and  of  the  "Pocket 
Book"  in  "The  Annual  Review,"  vol.  vii.  1808. 

C.  Forster,  of  91,  Poultry,  published,  amongst 
other  works,  "The  Literary  Magazine  and  British 
Review,"  which  extended  from  1788  to  1794.  It 
is  distinguished  for  a  series  of  well-engraved  por- 
traits, mostly  by  T.  Holloway,  accompanied  by 
original  memoirs;  also  other  prints  and  essays  on 
literary  and  scientific  subjects. 

Under  the  Royal  Exchange,  John  Richardson, 
who  was  a  highly  respected  tradesman,  carried  on 
an  extensive  trade  amongst  the  city  merchants. 
He  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  "The 
Beauties  of  England,"  and  was  assisted  by  a 
nephew  of  the  same  name. 

In  the  same  street,  Mr.  J.  Sewell,  a  worthy  but 
eccentric  man,  published  the  "European  Maga- 
zine;" the  biographical  articles  in  which,  especially 
those  connected  with  the  drama,  were  written  by 
Isaac  Reed,  who  edited  the  work  for  many  years, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Stephen  Jones.  Mr.  Moser 
was  a  prolific  writer  in  this  popular  periodical, 
which  contained  many  well-engraved  portraits. 
Amongst  them  was  one  of  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley, 
in  profile,  drawn  by  myself,  from  life,  when  the 


PATERNOSTER   ROW,  ETC. 

reverend  philosopher  was  reading  a  farewell  dis- 
course to  a  crowded  congregation  in  Hackney 
Church,  in  March,  1794. 

At  the  northeast  corner  of  Bishopsgate  Street, 
Messrs.  Arch,  two  Quaker  brothers,  enjoyed  an 
excellent  retail  trade.  They  had  shares  in  "The 
Beauties  of  England,"  and  were  the  publishers  of 
Turner  and  Cooke's  "Southern  Coast,"  which  con- 
tains many  fine  specimens  of  the  skill  of  the  re- 
spective artists.  This  work,  somewhat  .'ike  "The 
Beauties,"  was  the  cause  of  repeated  disputes  be- 
tween the  publishers  and  the  artists  and  authors. 
The  late  amiable  William  Alexander,  then  one  of 
the  curators  of  the  British  Museum,  wrote  an  ur- 
gent and  kindly-expressed  letter  to  Messrs.  Arch, 
advising  them  to  pay  more  liberal  prices  to  the  en- 
gravers. I  have  a  copy  of  that  letter,  from  the 
original  in  possession  of  Dawson  Turner,  Esq. 

The  "Minerva  Press,"  by  Wm.  Lane,  in  Lead- 
enhall  Street,  must  not  be  omitted  in  this  short  re- 
trospect of  the  older  metropolitan  publishers.  It 
was  noted  for  the  number  and  variety  of  books, 
called  novels,  which  were  continually  produced 
and  distributed  to  all  the  circulating  libraries  in 
the  country.  From  ten  to  twenty  pounds  were  the 
sums  usually  paid  to  authors  for  those  novels  of 
three  volumes.  The  Colburns  and  Bentleys  drove 
this  trash  out  of  the  market. 


part  II. 

FLEET    STREET,    RED    LION 

PASS  A  G£,  CHANGER  Y  LANE, 

HIGH  HOLBORN. 


part  II. 


FLEET  STREET,    RED   LION  PASSAGE, 

CHANCERY  LANE,  AND  HIGH 

HOLBORN. 

Fleet  Street  and  its  Immediate  Vicinity— McCreery— Nightingale  Ryl- 
ance-John Major— Walton  and  Cotton's  Angler— Walpole  Anecdotes 
— Rev.  T.  F.  Dibdin— Kearsley — Quarterly  Review— John  Murray — 
George  Cruikshank— W.  Hone  and  his  Trials— Wm.  Cobbett— E. 
Williams— The  John  Bull — London  Magazine  and  its  Contributors — 
J.  Taylor— J.  H.  Wiffin— Duke  of  Bedford— T.  Bensley— Red  Lion 
Passage — John  Nichols  and  his  Literary  Anecdotes— A.  J.  Valpy — 
Wm.  Pickering— The  Bridgewater  Treatises— High  Holborn— The 
Architectural  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain — John  Britton's  Partners — 
O.  Rees— Josiah  Taylor. 

•Jf£  LEET  Street  and  its  immediate  vicinage 
Jl  are  noted  in  the  annals  of  Literature  for 
the  number  and  estimation  of  authors,  printers, 
and  publishers  who  have  been  located  here,  in 
addition  to  those  already  named.  Amongst  these 
may  be  specified  John  McCreery,  an  eminent 
printer,  who  had  distinguished  himself  at  Liver- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

pool  by  writing  and  publishing  a  poem,  called 
"The  Press."  This  was  reprinted  and  a  second 
part  added,  on  his  settling  in  the  metropolis.  He 
was  strongly  recommended  to  the  London  pub- 
lishers by  Mr.  Roscoe.  In  his  employ  were  Ralph 
Rylance  and  John  Nightingale,  two  young  men, 
who  were  afterwards  engaged  in  writing  and  edit- 
ing several  literary  works  for  London  publishers. 
Three  volumes  on  "London,"  part  of  "The  Beau- 
ties of  England,"  were  compiled  by  the  latter,  in  a 
very  heedless  manner.  He  was  author  of  two  oc- 
tavo volumes,  "Portraitures  of  Methodism"  and 
of  "Catholicism."  His  friend  and  associate,  Ry- 
lance, was  a  learned,  diligent,  and  trustworthy 
author,  and  was  much  employed  by  the  house  of 
Longman  and  Co.  in  translations,  preparing  the 
manuscripts  of  inexperienced  authors  for  the  press 
and  on  miscellaneous  literature.  He  was  a  most 
worthy  and  honourable  man.  He  became  de- 
ranged in  intellect  and  died  in  the  prime  of  life, 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Benjamin  Martin,  an  optician  and  author  al- 
ready referred  to,  had  a  shop  and  lived  many  years 
in  this  street.  The  long  list  of  his  publications — 
more  than  sixty  volumes,  all  of  which  were  emi- 
nently useful,  and  many  of  them  popular,  specified 

in  Watts's  "Bibliotheca  Britannica'' — show  that  he 

93 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

must  have  been  industrious  and  scientific;  but  also 
prove  how  fleeting  and  evanescent  is  literary  fame. 
John  Major  lived  on  the  south  side  of  Fleet 
Street,  for  some  years,  having  removed  from  No. 
71,  Great  Russell  Street,  Bloomsbury.  He  was 
much  respected  by  a  numerous  circle  of  book- 
lovers  and  book-buyers,  and  particularly  by  the 
followers  and  disciples  of  Isaac  Walton :  by  artists, 
poets,  and  the  friends  of  the  three.  A  poet,  him- 
self, and  fond  of  books,  not  only  as  articles  to  im- 
part good  counsel,  and  the  most  disinterested  and 
wholesome  advice,  he  was  constantly  in  their  com- 
pany. His  shop  was  well  stocked  with  some  of 
the  choicest,  and  he  successively  published,  with 
useful  and  discriminating  notation  and  fine  em- 
bellishments, "Walton  and  Cotton  on  Angling;" 
the  "Physiognomical  Portraits,"  100  heads  beau- 
tifully engraved  with  Biographical  Sketches,  2 
vols.  large  8vo.,  and  large  4to.  1824;  "Robinson 
Crusoe,''  designs  by  Stothard;  "Hogarth  Moral- 
ized/' by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mavor;  Walpole's  "Anec- 
dotes of  Painting,"  in  5  vols.  imp.  8vo.,  1835;  "The 
Cabinet  Gallery  of  Pictures,"  with  Critical  Disser- 
tations by  Allan  Cunningham,  2  vols.  imp.  8vo., 
1833.  This  interesting  publication  contains  72 
prints,  and  a  series  of  essays  on  the  respective 
subjects  and  their  authors,  by  one  of  the  most 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

honest  and  discriminating  writers  on  such  mat- 
ters. 

Walpole's  "Anecdotes,"  from  the  manuscript 
collections  of  Virtue,  was  a  work  in  much  estima- 
tion by  readers  in  the  fine  arts,  for  some  time  after 
its  publication;  but  thence  to  the  time  Major  pro- 
duced his  new  edition,  there  were  various  sources 
opened,  and  further  information  easily  obtainable, 
for  correcting  and  greatly  enlarging  the  book. 
Had  Major  engaged  Allan  Cunningham  instead 
of  the  Rev.  James  Dallaway,  he  would 
have  benefited  himself  and  have  satisfied  his  crit- 
ical customers.  But,  alas!  this  was  not  the  case: 
an  unsatisfactory  and  erroneous  book  was  pro- 
duced, though  lavishly  embellished  with  150  prints 
of  portraits,  &c.,  also  good  paper  and  printing. 
Some  of  the  portraits  were  skillfully  engraved  by 
Robinson,  Scriven,  Worthington,  and  Finden. 
From  printing  too  many  copies,  a  large  remainder 
was  sold  off  after  the  bankruptcy  of  its  publisher, 
and  Mr.  Bohn  disposed  of  them  at  the  reduced 
prices  of  £4  for  the  small,  and  five  guineas  the 
large  paper,  with  India  proofs;  instead  of  te?n 
guineas  for  the  former,  and  fifteen  for  the  latter. 

Some  of  these  publications  obtained  the  unqual- 
ified encomiums  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  T.  F.  Dibdin,  in 
his  "Reminiscences  of  a  Literary  Life,"  1836;  but 

94 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

it  was  unfortunate  for  the  honest  bookseller  to  be 
too  familiar  and  confiding  in  the  unprincipled  par- 
son. The  former  accepted  bills  to  a  large  amount 
drawn  by  the  latter,  who  failed  to  honour  them, 
and  the  consequence  was  bankruptcy  and  total 
ruin.  Major  sunk  never  to  rise  again :  for  his  mind 
became  deranged,  and  he  was  placed  under  re- 
straint. Recovering,  in  some  measure,  he  was  re- 
leased from  the  asylum,  and  found  a  retreat  and 
comparative  comfort  in  the  Charter-house,  Lon- 
don, where  three  other  respectable  booksellers 
were  then  sheltered  and  maintained  in  old  age. 

Mr.  Kearsley,  of  the  same  street,  published  the 
"English  Review;"  also  the  "English  Encyclo- 
paedia," in  several  quarto  volumes-,  the  last  pub- 
lication possessed  considerable  merit.  He  also 
produced  many  other  works,  which  became  ex- 
ceedingly popular  and  profitable — the  "Beauties" 
of  different  authors.  Those  of  Sterne,  Johnson, 
Shakspeare;  of  the  Spectator,  Tatler,  and  Ram- 
bler, and  other  periodicals,  were  selling  for  many 
years,  and  reprinted  in  several  editions.  These, 
with  Adams's  "Flowers  of  Ancient  and  Modern 
History,"  "Flowers  of  Modern  Travels,"  "English 
Parnassus,"  "Curious  Thoughts  on  the  History 
of  Man/'  constituted  a  large  portion  of  my  early 
library.  I  have  now  before  me  "the  eleventh  edi- 
tion" of  Sterne's  "Beauties,"  1790. 

95 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

In  Fleet  Street  originated  "The  Quarterly  Re- 
view," which  was  commenced  in  February,  1809, 
by  John  Murray.  This  gentleman,  in  a  respecta- 
ble line  of  business,  evidently  possessed  strong  re- 
ligious and  political  opinions,  and  was  annoyed 
at  the  popularity  and  signal  effects  which  the  "Ed- 
inburgh Review"  was  producing  in  the  republic 
of  literature.  To  oppose,  and  endeavour  to  coun- 
teract its  "virus/'  as  called  by  Mr.  Canning,  he  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  that  gentleman, — then  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer, — suggesting  and  urging 
the  necessity  of  printing  a  periodical,  the  joint 
production  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  Tories  of 
the  time,  in  opposition  to  the  famed  "Northern 
Review."  He  tells  Mr.  Canning  that  "he  is  no 
adventurer,  but  a  man  of  some  property,  inher- 
iting a  business  that  has  been  established  for  near- 
ly a  century.''  This  led  to  a  correspondence,  and 
to  communications  with  William  Gifford,  Walter 
Scott,  George  Ellis,  Hookham  Frere,  George 
Rose,  Robert  Southey,  and  some  others  of  name 
and  note,  and  very  speedily  to  the  publication  of 
the  first  number.  The  high  and  rancorous  spirit 
of  Tory  party,  which  then  prevailed,  thus  obtained 
a  dauntless  champion,  who  has  combated  vigor- 
ously and  intrepidly  four  times  in  the  year  up  to 
the  present  age  of  peace,  and  a  comparative  truce 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

in  the  war-fields  of  politics.  Both  reviews  have 
produced  decided  and  important  effects  on  the  lit- 
erature and  politics  of  the  country;  and  it  cannot 
fail  to  interest  and  instruct  the  lover  of  books  to 
look  over  and  compare  the  early  writings  in  these 
periodicals  with  the  "Monthly,"  the  "Critical,"  the 
"Anti-jacobin/'  and  other  "Reviews"  which  had 
long  occupied  the  critical  market.  Mr.  Murray 
removed  from  Fleet  Street  to  Albemarle  Street 
in  1812,  to  premises  that  had  been  occupied  by 
William  Miller,  who  had  published  some  fine  and 
expensive  books.  Amongst  these  were  Forster's 
"British  Gallery  of  Engravings,"  folio;  Blome- 
field's  "History,  &c.,  of  Norfolk,"  10  vols.  4to.  and 
imp.  8vo.;  "The  Itinerary  of  Archbishop  Baldwin 
through  Wales,1'  2  vols.  4to.  1806.  The  last  work 
is  peculiarly  impressed  on  my  mind,  by  a  circum- 
stance which  gave  me  much  annoyance  at  the 
time  of  its  publication.  Mr.  Miller,  knowing  that 
I  was  acquainted  with  many  book  collectors  and 
antiquaries  tempted  me  to  subscribe  for  six 
copies,  by  allowing  a  discount  of  thirty  per  cent, 
under  the  publishing  price,  and  payment  by  bill 
at  three  months  after  delivery.  This  induced  me 
to  speculate :  I  gave  the  bill,  and  was  prepared  to 
pay  on  the  day  it  became  due.  The  banker's  clerk, 
however,  failed  to  present  it,  and  on  the  next  day 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

I  had  a  notice  that  the  bill  was  at  a  banker's,  and 
there  was  35.  6d.  due  for  noting  the  same.  Unac- 
quainted with  bill  transactions,  but  sensitive  to 
everything  that  might  impeach  my  credit,  I  has- 
tened to  Albemarle  Street  and  paid  the  money, 
explaining  that  I  had  remained  at  home  all  the 
preceding  day.  The  clerk's  excuse  was  that  Bur- 
ton Street  was  too  far  out  of  town,  and  he  had  not 
time. 

Air.  Murray  became  popular,  successful,  and 
much  respected,  not  only  by  some  of  the  most 
talented  and  eminent  authors  of  his  time,  but  by 
many  of  the  nobility.  His  liberality  to  the  liter- 
ati, his  tact  in  business  and  general  information, 
were  frequently  exhibited  in  his  correspondence 
with  the  parties  above  named,  and  many  other  dis- 
tinguished writers.  At  the  social  and  friendly 
board,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  he  manifested 
engaging  conversational  powers;  and  it  has  been 
my  good  fortune  to  have  been  repeatedly  amused 
and  informed  by  him,  in  company  with  some  of 
the  bright  literary  planets  which  have  appeared  in, 
but  have  left,  our  hemisphere.  In  my  library  I 
often  refer  to  some  of  those  beautiful  and  valuable 
books  which  he  has  published,  and  honoured  me 
with  as  presents. 

At  No.  55,  Fleet  Street,  William  Hone  had  a 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

small  shop,  in  1815,  where  he  published  "The 
Traveller,"  a  newspaper;  also  "The  Life  of  Eliza- 
beth Penning,"  who  was  hung  for  attempting  to 
poison  an  idiot,  though  Hone's  account  of  her  life 
shows  she  was  guiltless  of  the  act.  At  this  house 
appeared  the  first  of  his  famed  political  pamphlets, 
which  was  graphically  and  effectively  illustrated 
by  his  young  and  talented  friend,  the  now  eminent 
literary  artist,  George  Cruikshank.  Of  this  most 
witty,  poignant,  morally  satiric  and  talented  artist, 
an  interesting  biographical  essay  has  been  pre- 
served in  "The  London  Journal,"  November  2Oth, 
1847,  from  the  fluent  and  discriminating  pen  ot 
Dr.  R.  Shelton  Mackenzie,  with  a  clever  wood- 
cut portrait.  This  paper  not  only  shows  the  reader 
the  peculiar  graphic  merits  of  the  highly-gifted 
artist,  but  gives  a  vivid  review  of  the  political  and 
moral  character  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived  and 
worked,  and  points  out  the  merits  and  demerits  of 
some  of  the  most  prominent  actors  on  the  stage. 
Hone  and  Cruikshank  continued  in  association 
for  many  years,  and  had  the  bookseller  fully 
profited  by  the  counsels  of  the  artist,  he  might 
have  escaped  State  prosecutions,  become  a  re- 
spectable and  successful  tradesman,  and  have 
lived  to  witness  his  friend's  pre-eminence.  Though 
they  often  differed  in  opinions  on  religious  and 

99 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

even  political  subjects,  they  remained  in  friendly 
attachment  during  the  chequered  life  of  Hone.  I 
have  often  wished  that  the  artist  had  given  to  the 
world  a  graphic  and  literary  review  of  his  own 
career  and  connections,  and  still  hope  he  may  be 
incited  to  execute  it;  for  his  pen  and  pencil  are 
competent  to  produce  one  or  two  volumes  of  sur- 
passing and  unparalleled  interest. 

Hone  very  soon  moved  from  Fleet  Street  to  the 
Old  Bailey,  where,  in  conjunction  with  Cruik- 
shank,  he  produced  successively  and  successfully 
"The  Political  House  that  Jack  Built,"  "A  Slap 
at  Slop,"  and  three  "Parodies  on  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer."  The  first  of  these  publications 
became  so  popular,  that  more  than  fifty  editions 
were  published,  as  appears  by  a  volume  now 
before  me,  entitled  "Hone's  Popular  Political 
Tracts:  containing  The  House  that  Jack  Built; 
Queen's  Matrimonial  Ladder;  Right  Divine  of 
Kings  to  Govern  Wrong;  Political  Showman; 
Man  in  the  Moon;  The  Queen's  Form  of  Prayer; 
A  Slap  at  Slop,"  8vo.  with  numerous  cuts,  for 
William  Hone,  1820.  The  last  pamphlet  was  a 
smart  and  smarting  attack  on  Dr.  Stoddart,  and 
his  daily  paper,  called  "The  New  Times."  But 
Hone's  Parodies  were  the  most  noted,  and  the 
most  successful  in  their  results,  though  produc- 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

tive  of  cruel  and  vindictive  persecution  and  pros- 
ecution to  the  author.  For  printing  and  publish- 
ing these,  three  several  indictments  for  libels  were 
tried  against  him,  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
on  the  iQth,  2Oth,  and  2ist  of  December,  1817. 
Justice  Abbott  presided  on  the  first,  and  Lord  El- 
lenborough  on  the  second  and  third  days.  The 
strong  political  prejudices  of  the  latter  judge  were 
well  known,  and  became  apparent  on  the  trials; 
but  Hone  conducted  his  own  defence,  with  a  firm- 
ness, fortitude,  and  talent  which  astonished  both 
his  friends  and  foes.  His  addresses  to  the  jury, 
as  stated  in  a  note  in  the  printed  report  of  the 
trials,  lasted,  "on  the  first  day,  six  hours,  on  the 
second,  seven,  and  on  the  third,  upwards  of  eight 
hours;"  yet  he  was  in  a  bad  state  of  health,  op- 
pressed and  depressed,  and  manifested  much 
physical  exhaustion.  Still  he  was  clear,  close,  res- 
olute, and  self-confident,  and  was  listened  to  with 
intense  interest  by  the  court,  but  with  evident 
signs  of  mortification  by  the  judge.  The  result 
was  an  acquittal  upon  each  indictment.  Rarely 
have  there  been  criminal  trials  which  excited  more 
popular  sympathy  and  curiosity  during  their  prog- 
ress, or  more  general  rejoicing  in  their  termina- 
tion. The  accused  returned  to  his  home  in  tri- 
umph, and  a  large  public  subscription  was  raised 


LITERARY  LONDON. 


on  his  behalf.  He  had  removed  from  his  small 
shop  in  the  Old  Bailey  to  a  large  and  expensive 
house  on  Ludgate  Hill.  Here  he  was  followed, 
caressed,  and  praised  by  a  succession  of  visitors — 
real,  or  affected  friends, — amongst  whom  were 
some  of  the  most  popular  members  of  opposition 
in  the  two  Houses.  A  sum  of  nearly  £4,000  was 
raised  for  him  by  voluntary  subscription.  With 
such  a  vast  fortune,  to  him,  and  living  and  faring 
sumptuously  every  day,  he  had  neither  time  nor 
incentive  to  write,  or  attend  to  shop  business.  The 
consequence  was  natural.  The  down-hill  road 
from  affluence  to  poverty  is  often  travelled  with 
special-train  velocity,  and  terminates  in  the 
"slough  of  despond."  Such  was  the  case  with 
our  once-fortunate,  but  many  times  unfortunate, 
political  and  poetical  hero;  for  a  short  time  his 
affairs  were  involved  in  the  labyrinth  of  bank- 
ruptcy; and  ruin,  irretrieveable  ruin,  ensued,  from 
which  he  never  became  released.  In  February, 
1834,  he  appealed  to  the  Literary  Fund  for  aid, 
when  he  intreated  my  intercession  in  his  behalt, 
in  a  letter,  wherein  he  says:  "I  am  too  much  en- 
feebled to  move  about,  and  my  family  is  in  great 
distress,  and  I  am  worried  out  by  little  claims 
upon  me,  and  have  not  a  shilling."  The  Commit- 
tee of  that  noble  institution  inquired  into  his  case 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

and  character,  and  finding  the  first  to  be  urgent, 
and  the  second  to  be  more  "sinned  against  than 
sinning,"  awarded  him  a  handsome  grant  I  knew 
him  well,  and  respected  him  for  warmth  of  heart, 
kindness  of  disposition,  and  strength  of  head;  but 
he  was  most  improvident  and  indiscreet  in  the 
management  of  money  affairs.  Had  these  been 
placed  in  the  charge  of  an  honest,  good  account- 
ant, William  Hone  might  have  lived  to  be  a  rich 
man,  and  died  a  happy  one.  His  later  publica- 
tions were  useful  and  valuable,  as  calculated  to 
combine  amusing  with  good  historical,  topo- 
graphical, and  antiquarian  information.  They 
were  "The  Every-Day  Book,"  "The  Year  Book," 
"The  Table  Book,"'  and  "Ancient  Mysteries." 
Never,  perhaps,  was  political  and  personal  satire, 
irony,  ridicule,  burlesque,  caricature,  sarcasm,  and 
unflinching  temerity  of  language  and  graphic 
representation  carried  to  such  a  pitch  as  in  his 
once-popular  pamphlets,  which,  with  the  exalted 
and  illustrious  personages  represented  and  ridi- 
culed, are  now  scarcely  to  be  descried  in  the  haze 
of  distance.  Had  there  not  been  gross  delin- 
quency and  bad  conduct  in  the  parties  satirized, 
and  also  palpable  originality  and  talent  in  the  au- 
thor and  the  artist,  these  publications  would  not 
have  attained  their  surprising  and  unprecedented 
popularity. 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

The  Poets'  Gallery,  192,  Fleet  Street,  was  a 
place  of  much  distinction  at  the  end  of  the  last 
century  and  beginning  of  the  present.  Thomas 
Macklin,  its  proprietor,  was  a  publisher  and  print- 
seller,  and  besides  using  the  Gallery  for  tempo- 
rary exhibitions,  continued  to  keep  on  view  a  suc- 
cession of  works  of  art;  amongst  which  was  the 
popular  picture  of  "The  Woodman,"  by  Thomas 
Barker,  of  Bath.  Many  of  these  were  painted  by 
the  most  eminent  English  artists  for  the  splendid 
"Bible,"  which  he  published.  This  was  produced 
in  rivalry  of  Boydell's  magnificent  "Shakspeare'' 
and  Bowyer's  "England.''  These  contemporary 
publications  surpassed  all  literary  works  either  of 
this  or  any  other  country;  as  comprising  and  dis- 
playing the  finest  examples  of  paper  and  typogra- 
phy, with  the  highest  specimens  of  the  fine  arts 
of  England.  Herein  Bowyer,  Boydell,  and  Mack- 
lin did  more  to  benefit  art,  and  the  sciences  con- 
nected with  printing,  than  had  ever  before  been 
done,  or  perhaps  will  be  effected,  by  any  trium- 
virate of  tradesmen.  Macklin  died  at  the  early  age 
of  43,  in  Oct.  1800.  The  Gallery  has  since  been 
occupied  as  an  auction-room. 

The  old-established  bookselling  firm  of  Benja- 
min and  John  White,  at  No.  63,  Fleet  Street,  was 
amongst  the  most  respectable  of  the  class  in  Lon- 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

don  fifty  years  ago.  Its  stock  was  large  and  of 
the  best  books.  They  published  some  fine  works 
in  Natural  History;  amongst  which  were  those  of 
Pennant,  Latham,  and  White,  of  Selborne.  The 
last  was  a  relation  to  the  booksellers,  as  acknowl- 
edged by  John,  who  edited  the  collected  edition 
of  his  works  in  2  vols.  8vo.  1802,  in  which  is  a  very 
brief  notice  of  that  most  amusing  and  amiable  au- 
thor. The  last  of  the  Whites  of  Fleet  Street  joined 
in  partnership  with  J.  G.  Cochrane. 

The  once-noted  and  eminently-notorious  Wil- 
liam Cobbett  issued  many  of  his  remarkable 
"Weekly  Registers"  from  an  office  in  this  street, 
and,  for  several  years  afterwards,  from  his  print- 
ing establishment  in  Bolt  Court,  where  most  of  his 
voluminous  publications  on  history,  politics,  trav- 
els, grammar,  &c.,  were  produced.  In  the  annals 
of  the  human  race,  and  particularly  amongst  its 
remarkable  men,  Cobbett  appears  conspicuous,  if 
not  pre-eminent.  Emerging  from  the  humblest  of 
peasant  society,  without  education,  and  struggling 
against  many  difficulties  and  privations,  he  ad- 
vanced himself  to  high  political  and  national  dis- 
tinction, obtaining  a  seat  in  the  British  Parliament, 
and  writing  several  volumes,  which  secured  great 
celebrity  for  some  years,  and  which  will  be  read 
with  surprise  and  gratification  in  future  ages.  His 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

works  are  numerous,  very  voluminous,  and  on  va- 
rious subjects.  Amongst  them  is  a  copious,  and 
apparently  very  candid  Auto-Biography,  which  de- 
tails a  pretty  faithful  account  of  his  public  career 
and  writings.  But  I  would  more  particularly  di- 
rect the  young  reader  to  "The  Life  of  William 
Cobbett,"  a  small  thick  volume  in  i8mo.,  of  which 
the  third  edition  appeared  in  1835,  extending  to 
422  pages.  This  is  dedicated  "To  the  Sons  of  Wil- 
liam Cobbett,"  and  contains  apparently  a  fair,  dis- 
criminating account  of  the  man,  the  author,  and 
the  politician.  It  also  reprints  the  opinions  and 
criticisms  of  Wm.  Hazlitt,  Gifford  in  the  "Stand- 
ard," and  others  from  the  "Morning  Chronicle," 
the  "Times,"  and  the  "Atlas."  Charles  Knight 
has  recorded  his  opinions  and  remarks  on  Cob- 
bett, in  the  "History  of  England  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  Peace,"  vol.  i.  p.  48. 

At  1 86,  Fleet  Street,  was  the  shop  of  the  Eton 
School  Books,  for  many  years  conducted  by  Ed- 
ward Williams,  grandson  of  Joseph  Pote,  the  his- 
torian of  Windsor.  He  was  one  of  the  Court  As- 
istants  of  the  Stationers'  Company  for  the  last  five 
or  six  years  of  his  life,  and  proved  himself  an  ac- 
tive and  zealous  member  of  that  famed  corpora- 
tion. He  was  also  active  in  the  committee  of  the 
Literary  Fund,  and  there,  as  well  as  in  public  and 

106 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

private  life,  manifested  general  benevolence,  suav- 
ity of  manners,  true  philanthropy,  and  those  so- 
cial, amiable  traits  of  disposition,  which  conciliate 
all  associates.  Hence  his  company  was  generally 
courted.  To  a  natural  cheerfulness  of  temper  he 
added  the  happy  qualification  of  writing  and  sing- 
ing songs,  appropriate  to  times,  persons,  and 
places.  In  Jan.  1838,  as  he  was  walking  in  one  of 
the  streets  of  London,  near  the  Haymarket,  he 
fell  on  an  ice  slide,  and  received  such  serious  in- 
jury as  occasioned  his  speedy  death.  His  eldest 
son,  Edward  Pote  Williams,  has  succeeded  him 
both  in  London  and  at  Eton. 

"The  John  Bull,"  weekly  newspaper,  has  been 
printed  and  published  at  No.  40  Fleet  Street,  ever 
since  its  commencement  in  Dec.  1820.  If  not  pro- 
jected and  edited  at  first  by  the  celebrated  Theo- 
dore Hook,  it  is  generally  known  that  he  was  inti- 
mately connected  with  it  for  many  years,  and  that 
he  wrote  many  of  its  highly  poignant  articles. 
Conservative  and  of  high  church  principles,  it  has 
continued  an  unflinching  course  of  advocating 
these  two  branches  of  the  government,  and  to  cen- 
sure and  ridicule  all  classes  of  society,  and  all  de- 
partments of  politicians  of  opposite  opinions.  The 
eminently  witty,  and  as  eminently  reckless,  editor 
soon  rendered  it  popular  and  profitable  to  the  pro- 


LITERARY   LONDON. 

prietors,  and  to  himself,  by  the  severity  of  its  polit- 
ical articles,  and  by  the  poignant  wit  and  satire  of 
its  personal  and  literary  essays.  It  is  said  that  he 
derived  at  least  £2000  a  year  from  writings  in  this 
journal;  at  the  same  time  he  was  in  receipt  of  near- 
ly as  much  more  for  novels,  farces,  &c. :  yet  he 
was  often  in  debt  and  embarrassment  Never,  per- 
haps, was  there  a  man  of  such  precocious  and  ver- 
satile talents.  "As  a  wit,  confessed  without  rival 
to  shine,"  his  company  was  courted,  and  he  was 
incessantly  flattered  by  princes,  nobles,  and  the 
most  noted  in  the  world  of  fashion  and  of  fame. 
As  a  writer  of  novels,  farces,  songs,  and  particular- 
ly in  improvisation,  he  was,  perhaps,  unrivalled  in 
the  world  of  genius.  Having  been  several  times 
in  his  fascinating  company,  I  can  bear  witness  to 
these  qualifications:  when  in  contact  and  compe- 
tition with  the  famed  authors  of  "The  Rejected  Ad- 
dresses," he  seemed  to  shine  with  additional  bril- 
liancy. Yet  this  man,  this  accomplished  wit  and 
novelist,  was  imprisoned  and  degraded  for  disrep- 
utable neglect  of  his  duties  in  a  public  government 
office,  in  which  he  was  misplaced  by  political 
friends.  His  story  and  his  leading  characteristics 
are  well  described  in  the  last  volume  of  Knight's 
"Penny  Cyclopaedia." 

"The  Dispatch,"  of  139,  Fleet  Street,  a  weekly 


108 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

newspaper  diametrically  opposed  to  the  "John 
Bull,"  has  continued  to  have  a  popular  and  pros- 
perous career  from  1818  to  the  present  time.  Be- 
sides a  copious  amount  of  political  matter  and  gen- 
eral news,  this  journal  has  long  been  noted  for  its 
smart  reviews  of  literary  works,  the  fine  arts,  the 
drama,  and  the  theatres.  For  some  years  my  re- 
spected friend,  Edward  Dubois,  contributed  nu- 
merous witty  articles  on  those  subjects. 

At  No.  93  in  this  street,  "The  London  Maga- 
zine" was  published,  by  Taylor  and  Hessey,  from 
Midsummer  1821  to  the  same  month  in  1825.  It 
was  edited  by  Mr.  Taylor,  who  made  the  work 
highly  popular,  with  the  aid  of  such  men  as  Henry 
Southern  (now  our  Ambassador  at  Brazil),  J.  H. 
Reynolds,  Thos.  Hood,  Chas.  Lamb,  the  Rev.  H. 
F.  Gary,  Allan  Cunningham,  Barry  Cornwall, 
Charles  Phillips,  Horace  Smith,  Charles  A.  Elton, 
Thomas  De  Quincy,  Wm.  Hazlitt,  Bernard  Bar- 
ton, J.  Clare,  the  Rev.  G.  Croly,  Hartley  Coleridge, 
Dr.  Bowring,  Thomas  Carlyle,  and  other  similar 
writers.  With  such  a  phalanx  of  wits  and  literati 
(now  nearly  all  dead),  it  is  not  surprising  that  this 
periodical  was  very  popular.  In  1827,  these  pub- 
lishers sold  the  magazine  to  a  new  editor  and  pro- 
prietor. They  published  some  works  of  older  and 
eminent  authors,  under  careful  editorial  superin- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

tendence,  and  embellished  from  clever  designs  by 
Hilton,  who  was  then  coming  into  notice,  and  who 
attained  just  honours  as  an  artist  of  the  higher 
class.  Taylor  and  Hessey  brought  out  several  suc- 
cessful books  by  the  amiable  moral  writers,  Mrs. 
and  Miss  Jane  Taylor,  of  Ongar  (no  relatives  of 
the  publisher),  and  also  other  works.  They  after- 
wards removed  to  Waterloo  Place,  and  on  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  London  University,  Mr.  Taylor 
was  appointed  its  bookseller,  which  induced  him 
to  settle  in  Upper  Gower  Street,  where  he  has  con- 
tinued in  co-operation  with  Mr.  Walton  to  the 
present  time.  He  is  author  of  a  well-written  vol- 
ume on  the  controverted  and  never-ending  dispute 
as  to  the  authorship  of  Junius's  Letters,  in  which 
he  endeavours  to  prove  that  Sir  Philip  Francis  was 
the  writer;  but  of  which  evidence  I  cannot  admit 
the  validity.  In  a  learned  volume,  "The  Emphatic 
New  Testament/'  and  other  works  on  scriptural 
criticism,  and  in  several  pamphlets  on  currency, 
Mr.  Taylor  displays  much  erudition  and  acute  log- 
ical argument. 

Arthur  Collins,  called  by  Watt  ("Bib.  Brit.") 
"the  laborious  antiquary  and  heraldic  writer,"  who 
was  editor  and  publisher,  if  not  author,  of  the  first 
edition  of  the  English  Peerage,  in  1700,  then  lived 
at  the  Black  Boy,  in  Fleet  Street.  Edward  Curll 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

published  several  books  "at  the  Dial  and  Bible,  St. 
Dunstan's  Church."  Bernard  Lintot  was  living 
here  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century;  and  the 
amiable  Izaak  Walton  was  a  denizen  of  this  dis- 
trict. The  first  edition  of  his  "Angler"  was  pub- 
lished in  1653,  in  St.  Dunstan's  Churchyard,  price 
is.  6d. — (A  copy  sold  at  Haworth's  sale  for  thir- 
teen guineas.) 

Michael  Drayton,  the  poet,  died  in  a  house 
near  Saint  Dunstan's  Church,  according  to  Aubrey. 
The  same  authority  tells  us  that  Cowley,  the  more 
voluminous  author,  was  the  son  of  a  grocer  in  this 
street.  T.  Snelling,  who  drew,  engraved,  and 
published  numerous  plates  on  English  Coins,  had 
a  shop  in  this  street,  where  he  dealt  in  those,  in 
medals,  &c. 

Branching  off  from  Fleet  Street,  to  the  south,  is 
Bouverie  Street,  at  the  bottom  of  which  my  once 
much-esteemed  and  confidential  friend,  James 
Moyes,  built  large  premises  for  a  printing  estab- 
lishment, after  the  destruction,  by  fire,  of  his  for- 
mer offices  in  Greville  Street.  Here  he  produced 
numerous  literary  works  for  different  publishers, 
also  some  for  private  friends,  and  was  in  an  ex- 
tended and  respectable  way  of  business,  when  the 
severe  commercial  panic  of  1826  involved  him, 
with  several  of  his  friends,  in  bankruptcy.  The 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

shock  was  much  more  severe  to  his  susceptible 
nerves,  and  high  sense  of  honor,  than  the  former 
calamity.  His  mental  and  corporeal  faculties 
seemed  paralyzed  for  some  weeks,  and  his  friends 
were  alarmed;  but  rallying,  and  aided  by  a  few 
gentlemen  who  knew  his  integrity  of  principle  and 
moral  worth,  he  took  new  premises  in  Castle 
Street,  Leicester  Square,  where  he  progressively 
obtained  a  large  amount  of  business,  and  was  pros- 
perous and  happy,  until  death  arrested  his  career 
in  1838,  at  the  age  of  59.  He  was  interred  in  a 
vault  in  the  cemetery  of  Kensal  Green,  where  a 
marble  slab  is  placed  to  his  memory.  Intimately 
acquainted  with  this  honourable  tradesman  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  I  can  conscientiously  assert 
that  he  fully  deserved  the  encomium  Pope  applies 
to  "the  noblest  work  of  God" — an  honest  man.  I 
never  knew  a  person  more  widely  and  uniformly 
esteemed.  In  business,  he  actively  and  zealously 
endeavoured  to  secure  the  confidence  and  good 
opinion  of  every  employer;  and,  I  believe,  was  al- 
ways successful.  As  a  man,  he  was  well  informed, 
upright,  kind-hearted  ,and  generous  both  in  word 
and  deed,  and  as  completely  exempt  from  the  in- 
firmities of  poor  human  nature  as  any  of  his  spe- 
cies. With  such  qualities,  and  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  business,  he  must  have  attained  a  good  for- 
tune in  a  few  years. 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

He  printed  different  literary  works  for  me,  en- 
tirely to  my  satisfaction  and  to  his  own  credit.  Be- 
sides being  employed  by  many  respectable  pub- 
lishers, he  printed  "The  Literary  Gazette"  and 
"Eraser's  Magazine''  for  many  years;  also  sev- 
eral successive  volumes  of  "The  Gems  of  Beauty," 
"Friendship's  Offering,"  and  other  works,  under 
the  editorship  of  Lady  Blessington.  He  also 
worked  for  the  "Admiralty"  and  for  other  public 
offices;  and  produced  two  handsome  and  beauti- 
fully printed  books  for  J.  H.  Wiffin,  of  "Jerusalem 
Delivered,"  and  "Historical  Memoirs  of  the  House 
of  Russell,"  in  two  vols.  royal  octavo.  This  led  to 
a  connection  with  John,  Duke  of  Bedford,  for 
whom  Mr.  Moves  printed  different  works,  on  the 
pictures,  statues,  grasses,  ferns,  &c.,  at  Woburn 
Abbey.  I  have  now  before  me  letters  from  this 
truly  generous  nobleman,  also  from  Lady  Bless- 
ington, Mr.  Wiffin,  and  others,  expressing  appro- 
bation of  his  works,  and  thanking  him  for  skill  and 
kind  attentions.  Though  I  have  been  acquainted 
with  several  Quakers,  I  never  met  with  one  who 
was  more  sincere,  candid,  warm-hearted,  and  un- 
sophisticated than  Mr.  Wiffin.  He  united  with 
these  qualifications  the  susceptibility  of  the  poet 
with  the  perseverance  and  discrimination  of  the 
faithful  historian.  His  "Memoirs  of  the  House 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

of  Russell,"  which  were  printed  by  Mr.  Moyes 
in  1832,  will  justify  these  remarks,  and  will  derive 
further  confirmation  by  his  translation  of  Tasso's 
"Jerusalem  Delivered,"  with  a  series  of  beautifully- 
executed  engravings  in  wood,  also  in  two  smaller 
volumes.  He  produced  a  volume  of  Miscellane- 
ous Poems,  under  the  title  of  "Aonian  Hours/'  and 
other  poetry.  Mr.  WifHn  was  Librarian  to  John, 
Duke  of  Bedford,  in  which  honourable  office  he 
died,  in  May  1836,  in  the  prime  of  life,  much  be- 
loved by  all  who  knew  him.  A  well-written  ac- 
count of  his  personal  and  literary  character  is  pre- 
served in  the  "Literary  Gazette,"  May  1836.  He 
has  been  succeeded  by  John  Martin,  formerly  in 
partnership  with  Mr.  Rodwell,  of  Bond  Street,  and 
who,  in  1834,  published  "A  Bibliographical  Cata- 
logue of  Privately-printed  Books,"  a  handsome 
and  curious  volume. 

In  Bolt  Court  was  the  printing-office  of  Thomas 
Bensley,  which  attained  marked  distinction  at  the 
end  of  the  last  century  and  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent. It  was  here  that  Mr.  Konig's  printing  ma- 
chinery was  first  employed,  and  advanced  towards 
perfection;  and  from  this  office  issued,  in  1797,  a 
magnificent  royal  folio  edition  of  Thomson's  "Sea- 
sons." Here  also  were  printed  Macklin's  Bible 
and  many  other  fine  books;  likewise  my  (Brit- 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

ton's)  fourth  volume  of  "Architectural  Antiqui- 
ties," and  the  "History  of  Redcliffe  Church."  These 
premises,  like  too  many  other  printing-offices  of 
London,  suffered  by  fire :  first,  on  the  fifth  of  No- 
vember, 1807,  when  they  were  much  damaged, 
with  several  works,  by  a  fire  supposed  to  have  been 
occasioned  by  careless  boys.  Again,  June  1819, 
the  whole,  with  their  valuable  contents,  were  con- 
sumed in  or  materially  injured  by  another  con- 
flagration. 

"Red  Lion  Passage,"  at  the  end  of  the  last  cen- 
tury and  beginning  of  the  present,  was  familiar 
to  a  large  class  of  readers  of  the  "Gentleman's 
Magazine,"  and  to  every  topographer  and  anti- 
quary in  England,  by  the  spacious  printing-office 
of  John  Nichols;  and  the  many  publications  issu- 
ing therefrom.  This  veteran,  respectable,  and 
truly  valuable  periodical  ("Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine") has  continued  its  monthly  course  from  1731 
to  the  present  time ;  and  it  is  a  singular  part  of  its 
history  that  it  was  commenced  by  a  journeyman 
printer,  and  for  ninety-six  years  was  continued  un- 
der the  editorship  of  three.  In  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  times,  this  venerable  journal  has 
now  all  the  freshness,  vigour,  beauty  and  interest, 
which  good  writing,  paper,  and  typography  can 
impart.  I  was  indulged  by  my  venerated  ancf&ind 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

friend,  the  "Deputy  of  Farringdon  Ward,"  with 
the  use  of  any  books  in  his  valuable  topographical 
library,  but  none  were  to  be  taken  away;  for  he 
justly  remarked,  these  were  his  working-tools  al- 
most in  daily  demand.  I  found  them  invaluable  to 
me  at  a  time  when  my  own  stock  was  very  small — 
when  the  reading-room  of  the  British  Museum  was 
not  easily  accessible,  and  when  I  had  engaged  to 
write  and  print  "The  Beauties  of  Wiltshire;"  and 
also,  in  conjunction  with  my  literary  coadjutor, 
Mr.  Brayley,  "Topographical  Accounts  of  Bed- 
fordshire, Berkshire,  and  Buckinghamshire,"  for 
the  first  volume  of  "The  Beauties  of  England." 
This  courtesy,  however,  proved  of  great  benefit,  as 
was  also  the  personal  intercourse  and  converse 
with  the  author  of  the  "History  of  Leicestershire," 
in  eight  folio  volumes,  his  valuable  "Literary  An- 
ecdotes," in  nine  volumes,  with  two  of  indexes, 
and  of  other  similar  works.  Here  I  occasionally 
saw  Richard  Gough,  who  was  a  frequent  visitor; 
and  here  I  also  had  glances  of  other  eminent  topo- 
graphers and  antiquaries,  who  employed  the  same 
respected  printer  and  author.  Some  years  after- 
wards, I  was  honoured  and  gratified  by  friendly 
intimacy  with  most  of  the  personages  to  whom  I 
then  looked  up  with  awful  respect  and  admiration. 
They  are  all  removed  from  this  terrestrial  sphere, 


116 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

but  have  left  their  nanjes,  and  varied  qualifica- 
tions, indelibly  recorded  in  the  lasting  pages  of 
their  respective  publications.  With  Mr.  Nichols, 
I  continued  on  friendly  terms  from  the  end  of  the 
last  century  to  the  time  of  his  death,  Nov.  26,  1826. 
By  a  fall  in  Red  Lion  Passage,  in  January  1807, 
he  fractured  a  thigh-bone,  by  which  he  was  lamed 
for  life ;  and  in  February  of  the  following  year  he 
suffered  severely  from  a  calamitous  fire,  which  de- 
stroyed his  premises,  and  a  large  stock  of  paper, 
printed  books,  manuscripts,  &c.  At  the  time  of 
my  early  communion  with  Mr.  Nichols,  his  son 
John  Bowyer,  was  taken  into  partnership,  and  con- 
tinued so  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In 
such  an  office  and  its  associations,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  he  became  an  antiquary  and  topographer 
as  well  as  printer;  and  that  his  son,  John  Gough, 
should  be  one  of  the  mose  devoted,  zealous,  and 
learned  amongst  the  present  numerous  class  of 
archaeologists. 

A.  J.  Valpy,  M.A.,  a  son  of  the  learned  Dr.  Val- 
py,  of  Reading  School,  after  being  a  short  time  in 
Tooke's  Court,  removed  to  the  more  spacious  of- 
fices vacated  by  Mr.  Nichols,  in  which  he  execut- 
ed, besides  many  other  works,  "The  Delphin 
Classics/'  with  the  Variorum  Notes.  These  ex- 
tended to  141  volumes,  which  were  charged'  i8s. 
117 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

each,  and  in  large  paper,  £i.  i6s.  He  also  printed, 
for  different  publishers,  many  other  books,  both 
in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  not  only  employed  some 
of  the  most  learned  compositors  that  could  be  ob- 
tained, but  several  scholars  from  the  Universities, 
to  read  and  correct  the  proof-sheets.  Hence  the 
Valpy  office  and  press  obtained  high  distinction  in 
the 'learned  world.  Mr.  Valpy  retired  from  busi- 
ness in  the  prime  of  life,  to  enjoy  "otium  cum  dig- 
nitate." 

Nearly  opposite  to  the  printing-office  last  re- 
ferred to  was  a  small  house  occupied  by  Stephen 
Jones,  a  gentleman  with  whom  I  was  on  familiar 
terms  for  many  years.  He  was  Secretary  to  a  Free- 
masons' lodge,  and  was  occasionally  employed  by 
some  of  the  publishers  to  edit  and  arrange  miscel- 
laneous papers,  make  indexes,  &c.  He  first  ap- 
peared, in  1791,  as  abridging  Burke's  "Reflections;" 
and  two  years  afterwards  his  name  was  attached  to 
an  Abridgment  of  Ward's  "Natural  History,"  in  3 
vols.  In  1796  he  produced  "A  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary in  Miniature,"  a  copy  of  which  he  present- 
ed me,  with  his  autograph:  the  first  literary  work' 
I  had  then  received,  though  I  can  now  enumer- 
ate more  than  sixty  volumes.  He  produced  sev- 
eral other  publications,  which  are  specified  in 
Watt's  "Bibliotheca  Britannica,"  the  last  of  which 

118 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

is  "A  Pronouncing  Dictionary  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage," a  large  octavo  volume.  The  third  edition 
of  the  work,  now  before  me,  has  the  author's  auto- 
graph, with  the  date  of  1798.  He  also  edited  a 
new  edition  of  the  "Biographia  Dramatica:''  this 
was  harshly  criticised,  when  he  published  a  pam- 
phlet, entitled  "Hypercriticism  Exposed,  in  a  Let- 
ter to  the  Readers  of  the  Quarterly  Review,"  8vo. 
1812. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life,  my  respected  friend, 
a  man  of  mild  disposition,  strict  honesty,  great  in- 
dustry, and  unblemished  character,  was  embar- 
rassed in  circumstances,  applied  to,  and  derived 
pecuniary  aid  from,  the  Literary  Fund.  Dr.  N. 
Drake,  in  a  letter  to  Cadell  and  Davies,  respecting 
his  large  work,  "Shakspeare  and  His  Times,"  says, 
"S.  Jones  was  the  compositor  to  my  Essays  on 
Periodical  Literature,  and  I  was  perfectly  satisfied 
with  his  accuracy  and  attention;"  whence  he 
strongly  recommended  him  to  those  publishers 
to  make  the  index  to  his  two  quarto  volumes.  It 
extends  to  six  quarto  sheets. 

In  New  Street  and  New  Street  Square  are  the 
large  and  famed  printing-offices  of  Strahan,  "the 
King's  Printer,"  who  obtained  great  wealth,  and  at 
whose  presses  an  immense  number  of  books  have 
been  printed.  Among  these  was  the  "Cyclopse- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

dia/'  edited  by  my  early  and  much-loved  friend, 
Dr.  A.  Rees,  and  for  which  I  wrote  many  a  colse- 
ly-packed  page.  Besides  accounts  of  nearly  all  the 
cities,  towns,  and  counties  of  England,  Wales,  and 
Scotland,  I  wrote  separate  articles  on  Avebury  and 
Stonehenge,  with  illustrative  prints,  and  a  memou 
of  Shakspeare.  With  copy  and  proofs  I  had  fre- 
quent communication  with  one  of  the  offices,  for 
there  were  several,  and  witnessed  the  order,  dis- 
cipline, and  admirable  system  which  prevailed. 
The  liberality  and  riches  of  Andrew  Strahan,  Esq., 
who  died  in  August  1831,  render  his  name  illus- 
trious in  the  annals  of  man.  In  1822,  he  presented 
£1000  to  the  Literary  Fund,  and  bequeathed  a 
similar  sum  after  his  decease,  in  the  year  1831. 
He  also  gave  other  large  sums  to  different  charita- 
ble societies.  He  died,  in  the  83rd  year  of  his  age, 
at  the  house  in  New  Street,  leaving  property  to  the 
amount  of  above  one  million  of  money;  and  pre- 
sented his  great  printing  establishment  to  his 
nephew,  Andrew  Spottiswoode,  who  married  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Mr.  T.  N.  Longman,  of  Pater- 
noster Row. 

In  Chancery  Lane,  north  of  Fleet  Street,  was  a 
shop  which  William  Pickering  gave  name  and 
note  to  by  publishing  many  valuable  volumes  un- 
der the  titles  of  "Aldine  Edition  of  the  Poets;'' 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

"Walton  and  Cotton's  Angler,"  and  other  books 
on  the  subject;  Richardson's  Dictionaries  of  the. 
English  Language ;  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  and  Dia- 
mond Classics;  and  several  works  on  Ecclesiasti- 
cal, Biblical,  and  Polemical  History;  on  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Anglo-Norman  Literature;  "Small 
Books  on  Great  Subjects,  by  Well- Wishers  to 
Knowledge;"  and  last,  though  not  least  in  merit 
and  popularity,  the  novel,  unique,  and  original 
"Bridgewater  Treatises,"  in  12  volumes.  These 
were  by  Sir  Charles  Bell,  on  the  "Hand;"  the  Rev. 
William  Buckland,  D.D.,  on  "Geology  and  Min- 
eralogy;" the  Rev.  Thomas  Chalmers,  D.D.,  on 
the  "Moral  and  Intellectual  Constitution  of  Man;" 
John  Kidd,  M.  D.,  on  the  "Physical  Condition 
of  Man;"  the  Rev.  William  Kirby,  on  the  "His- 
tory, Habits,  and  Instincts  of  Animals;"  William 
Prout,  M.  D.,  on  "Chemistry,  Meteorology,  and 
the  Function  of  Digestion;'' P.  M.  Roget,  M.  D.,  on 
"Animal  and  Vegetable  Physiology;''  and  the  Rev. 
W.  Whewell,  on  "Astronomy  and  General  Phys- 
ics.'' 

These  Essays  were  written  by  the  respective 
learned  authors,  in  compliance  with  a  bequest  of 
Francis  Henry,  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  in  February 
1829,  of  £8000.  to  be  paid  for  eight  Treatises  "On 
the  Power,  Wisdom,  and  Goodness  of  God,  as 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

manifested  in  the  Creation."  Never,  perhaps,  in 
the  annals  of  the  human  race,  and  of  testamentary 
generosity  and  rightful  application,  was  a  legacy 
more  wisely  and  laudably  given.  It  was  Mr.  Pick- 
ering's good  fortune  to  be  selected  as  the  publisher 
of  the  series,  whence  his  house  and  character  were 
prominently  brought  under  the  notice  of  the  read- 
ing world.  In  1843  ne  removed  to  177,  Piccadilly, 
where  may  be  seen  a  house  full  of  rare  and  valua- 
ble books,  and  where  may  be  obtained  many  of 
those  he  had  printed  and  published,  under  the  edi- 
torial care,  learning,  and  ability  of  Sir  Harris 
Nicolas,  Basil  Montagu,  the  Rev.  W.  L.  Bowles, 
S.  W.  Singer,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dyce,  the  Rev. 
J.  Mitford,  J.  H.  Marsden,  Thomas  Wright,  Rob- 
ert Roscoe,  George  Daniel,  W.  Tooke,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  T.  F.  Dibdin,  and  many  other  authors  of  emi- 
nence. 

Let  us  look  at  a  "Pen  and  Ink  Sketch"  of  Mr. 
Pickering  by  the  last-named  reverend  gentleman, 
in  his  own  peculiar  style  of  touch  and  effect.  "How 
does  Mr.  Pickering  this  morning?  and  where  are 
the  Caxtons,  and  Wynkyns,  and  Pynsons — his  Al- 
duses,  Elzevirs,  and  Michel  Le  Noirs?  But  Mr. 
Pickering  has  a  note  of  louder  triumph  to  sound, 
in  being  publisher  of  the  'Bridgewater  Treatises,' 
which  bid  fair  to  traverse  the  whole  civilized  por- 
tion of  the  globe." — (Reminiscences,  p.  904.) 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

From  Chancery  Lane  to  High  Holborn  is  a 
mere  step,  and  there,  at  No.  59,  is  a  house,  which 
was  built  by  Josiah  Taylor,  the  Architectural 
Bookseller,  with  whom  I  (Britton)  became  ac- 
quainted at  the  early  part  of  my  literary  career, 
and  with  whom  I  fortunately  continued  on  inti- 
mate terms  to  the  time  of  his  lamented  death,  Jan- 
uary, 1834.  In  1805,  I  showed  him  some  drawings 
of  ancient  buildings  which  Mr.  Hood  thought  were 
not  calculated  to  adorn  the  pages,  and  come  under 
the  title,  of  "The  Beauties  of  England."  After  a 
little  consultation  and  deliberation,  it  was  agreed 
to  publish  a  new  quarto  work,  entitled  "The  Arch- 
itectural Antiquities  of  Great  Britain."  A  plan  was 
digested,  a  prospectus  was  written,  Longman  and 
Co.  engaged  to  take  a  third  share  in  the  work, 
and  be  the  publishers.  Hence  originated  a  pub- 
lication, which  not  only  extended  to  five  quarto 
volumes,  and  brought  before  the  public  360  en- 
gravings, representing  a  great  variety  of  old  build- 
ings of  the  country,  but  many  of  historical,  de- 
scriptive, and  critical  essays.  These  were  not  by 
my  own  pen  only,  but  by  those  of  several  gentle- 
men, who  thus  laid  before  the  reading  world  much 
original  and  interesting  information.  This  work, 
indeed,  gave  origin  to  a  new  school  of  artists,  both 
draftsmen  and  engravers,  and  to  many  competing 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

and  rival  publications.  It  obtained  great  popu- 
larity, and  was  consequently  profitable  to  the  pub- 
lishers and  to  the  author.  Had  the  latter  been  a 
little  more  the  man  of  business,  and  more  anxious 
to  obtain  wealth  than  fame,  he  might  have  been 
enabled  to  retire  from  the  labours  and  anxieties 
of  authorship  at  the  age  of  eighty,  with  compe- 
tence to  provide  all  the  comforts,  and  even  some 
of  the  luxuries  of  life.  His  chief  solicitude  and  am- 
bition, throughtout  the  whole  extent  of  that  and 
other  publications,  have  been  to  render  them 
truthful,  original,  correct,  and  replete  w4th  the 
best  artistic  illustrations  and  literary  information 
which  he  could  obtain  and  impart  to  the  reader. 
His  partners  were  confiding  and  kind,  upon  most 
occasions;  and  Mr.  Taylor  evinced  his  friendship 
by  a  posthumous  bequest.  Mr.  O.  Rees  proved 
himself  a  warm  and  even  affectionate  friend 
throughout  life. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  a  punctilious,  preservering,  and 
honourable  man  of  business,  and  confined  his  at- 
tention, and  publications  almost  exclusively  to 
those  devoted  to  architecture  and  engineering. 
Hence  he  became  acquainted  with  most  of  the  pro- 
fessional gentlemen  of  the  kingdom,  published  for 
many  of  them,  and  was  connected  in  business  with 
nearly  all.  Thus  we  find  that  his  catalogue  of  works 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

contains  the  following  amongst  other  names:  Stu- 
art and  Revett,  Soane,  Malton,  G.  Richard- 
son, Peter  Nicholson,  Lugars,  Gwilt,  Pocock, 
Dearn,  Gandy,  Aikin,  Plaw;  and  the  following  on 
"Gothic  Architecture,"  the  Rev.  G.  D.  Whittington, 
the  Rev.  J.  Milner,  the  Rev.  James  Dallaway,  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Warton,  James  Bentham,  Captain 
Grose,  the  Rev.  J.  Gunn,  the  Rev.  George  Millers, 
and  J.  S.  Hawkins.  The  Essays,  by  Milner,  War- 
ton,  Bentham,  and  Grose,  were  published  by  Mr. 
Taylor  in  a  separate  volume,  which  went  through 
three  editions. 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  purchased 
a  good  house  at  Stockwell,  where  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  assembling  frequently  a  succession  of 
friends  around  his  social  board;  and  there  I  have 
often  met,  and  enjoyed  the  converse  of,  some  of 
the  most  eminent  architects  and  engineers  of  Lon- 
don. On  those  occasions  it  was  his  practice  to 
send  a  carriage  to  and  from  London  to  convey 
two,  three,  or  four  gentlemen  who  did  not  keep 
carriages.  In  the  year  1822  the  house  and  shop, 
in  Holborn,  with  their  contents,  were  consumed 
by  an  accidental  fire,  whereby  I  sustained  a  con- 
siderable loss.  Mr.  Taylor  died  at  the  age  of  73, 
in  the  year  1834,  and  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields 
cemetery. 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

"Readings  and  Music"  were  popular  sources  of 
amusement  in  London,  about  fifty  years  back; 
and  I  not  only  exhibited  myself  at  the  place  de- 
scribed, but  at  a  large  room  in  Foster  Lane,  in  an- 
other at  the  Globe,  Fleet  Street,  and,  lastly,  in  two 
others  at  the  Freemasons'  Hall,  and  in  the  Argyle 
Rooms.  These  societies  assumed  pompous 
Greek  names — "Museodeans,"  and  "Odechorolo- 
geans," — with  parade  and  much  etiquette,  in  aping 
the  operatic  customs  and  manners  of  theatric 
and  ball-room  concerts.  The  large  rooms  at  both 
places  were  crowded  with,  company,  every  night 
of  performing;  and  amongst  the  performers  were 
Miss  Brunton,  Miss  F.  Kelly,  Miss  S.  Booth,  Miss 
Bolton,  &c. 


126 


part  HI. 

THE  STRAND,  PALL  MALL, 
KING  STREET. 


part  HI. 


THE  STRAND,    PALL   MALL, 
KING   STREET. 

The  Strand  at  the  beginning  of  the  Century— Thomas  Caddell— The 
Newspaper  Press — George  Lane — D.  Stuart — John  Bell — Rudolph 
Ackermann  and  his  publications— F.  Shoberl,  Author  and  Editor — 
Annuals — ,,Dr.  Syntax" — Combe— Rowlandson— John  and  Leigh  Hunt 
— The  Literary  Gazette — Richardson's  Auctions — Geographers — Prince 
Sanders  —  Lyceum  Theatre — Auctioneers — The  Sothebys— Evans — 
The  Christies'  Sale-Rooms — Pall  Mall — King-  Street — Covent  Garden 
— Hogarth's  Election  —  P.  Luckombe — King  and  Lochee's  Auction 
Rooms  ;  their  book-sales. 

HE  STRAND,  at  the  end  of  the  last  century 
and  beginning  of  the  present,  when  a  much 
narrower  street  than  it  is  now,  and  when  Exeter 
'Change  occupied  a  large  area  of  the  road-way  be- 
tween the  present  Lyceum  Theatre  and  Exeter 
Street,  contained  several  booksellers  and  publish- 
ers of  distinction.  Amongst  these  was  the  house 
of  Alderman  Thomas  Cadell,  which  occupied  the 

site  of  old  Jacob  Tonson's  (the  Shakspeare  Head). 
129 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

Andrew  Miller,  a  friend  of  Thomson,  Fielding, 
Hume,  Robertson,  was  the  master  of  Alderman 
Cadell. 

At  the  period  to  which  my  notes  chiefly  relate, 
Alderman  Thomas  Cadell  was  living  in  the  Strand, 
and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  occasionally  in 
his  society.  He  resigned  the  business  to  his  Son 
and  to  William  Davies,  jointly,  who  long  traded 
under  the  well-known  firm  of  "Cadell  and  Davies." 
The  Alderman  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  was 
chiefly  indebted  for  his  prosperity  to  the  works  of 
four  "Bees,'  alluding  to  four  popular  publications: 
"Blair's  Sermons,"  "Blackstone's  Commentaries," 
"Burn's  Justice  of  the  Peace,"  and  "Buchan's  Do- 
mestic Medicine."  Johnson's  "Dictionary,"  and 
Hume  and  Smollett's  "History  of  England,"  were 
also  amongst  the  valuable  copyrights  belonging  to 
this  firm.  In  reference  to  the  two  publications  last- 
mentioned,  this  establishment,  in  conjunction 
with  Longman  and  Co.,  who  were  part  proprie- 
tors with  them  in  those  and  other  works,  had  to 
encounter  a  vigorous  opposition  from  other  book- 
sellers when  the  copyrights  expired;  but  their  op- 
erations were  so  judiciously  and  promptly  con- 
ducted that  they  effectually  maintained  their 
ground.  The  "Dictionary''  had  been  published 

in  two  costly  volumes,  folio;  and  when  the  copy- 
130 


FLEET  STREET,  ETC. 

right  was  about  to  expire,  an  edition  in  one  folio 
volume  was  prepared,  with  great  secrecy,  by  a 
bookseller  in  Paternoster  Row.  The  proprietors 
of  the  book  hearing  of  that  scheme,  prepared  an 
edition  in  two  quarto  volumes,  which,  being  of  a 
more  commodious  form,  at  once  became  a  popular 
work,  and  obtained  a  rapid  sale :  whereas  the  rival 
undertaking  involved  the  speculator  in  a  serious 
loss.  The  quarto  edition,  being  published  at  £5. 
55.,  produced  a  considerable  profit  to  the  share- 
holders, who  were  proportionably  tenacious  of 
maintaining  its  integrity.  One  of  them,  however, 
the  managing  partner,  happening  to  say  vaunting- 
ly  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Childs,  an  energetic 
printer  at  Bungay,  that  the  partners  would  ruin 
any  one  who  set  up  a  rival  edition,  he  forthwith 
stereotyped  and  reprinted  the  entire  work  in  a 
single  volume,  imperial  8vo.  (now  currently  sold 
for  1 8s.)  and  employing  that  indefatigable  and  un- 
scrupulous agent,  the  late  John  Ogle  Robinson, 
(formerly  of  the  firm  Robinson,  Hurst,  and  Co.)  a 
large  and  remunerative  sale  was  speedily  obtained, 
and  the  quarto  was  consequently  much  depre- 
ciated. 

The  standard  octavo  edition  of  the  "History  of 
England''  was  issued  by  Cadell  and  the  Long- 
mans, in  anticipation  of  opposition,  in  periodical 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

numbers,  embellished  with  portraits.  Both  Cooke 
and  Parsons,  nevertheless,  entertained  the  project 
of  duodecimo  editions,  without  prints ;  but  the  pro- 
prietors forestalled  them  by  a  similar  edition,  with 
reduced  copies  of  the  engravings.  The  rival  pub- 
lishers proceeded,  however,  with  their  respective 
undertakings,  and  so  great  was  the  sale  of  the 
works,  that  each  edition  reimbursed  its  expenses. 
By  a  volume  of  "Autograph  Letters  and  Papers," 
one  of  a  series  now  before  me,  belonging  to  my 
friend,  Mr.  John  Wodderspoon,  I  find  that  the 
above-named  firm  embarked  a  large  capital,  at 
great  risk,  on  Dr.  Drake's  "Shakspeare  and  his 
Times  ;"Ly son's  "Magna  Britafmica,"  and  Sam- 
uels's  "Britannia  Romana;''  G.  Chalmers's  "Cale- 
donia;" Alexander  Chalmers's  "British  Poets,"  21 
vols.  royal  8vo. ;  Coxe's  Works,  (mostly  written  by 
Henry  Hatcher)  Dr.  Clarke's  Travels,  and  several 
other  expensive  publications.  By  memoranda 
amongst  this  correspondence,  it  is  also  evident 
that  they  acted  with  much  courtesy  and  liberality 
to  those  authors.  Dr.  Drake  was  paid  £800  for 
his  two  volumes;  and  in  a  statement  of  accounts 
it  seems  that  the  losses  were  above  £900.  The 
works  by  the  Lysonses  entailed  a  great  loss  on  the 
respectable  publishers.  Hence  we  learn  that,  after 
their  decease,  a  large  stock  of  unsold  books  came 
132 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

into  the  market,  and  were  dispersed  at  very  low 
prices. 

Near  the  middle  part  of  the  ever-crowded,  noisy, 
tumultuous  thoroughfare  called  the  Strand,  is  the 
very  focus — the  hot-bed,  the  forcing-house — of  the 
"Newspaper-Press,"  now  emphatically  called  "The 
Fourth  Estate."  This  literary  manufactory  and 
news-mart  may  be  almost  regarded  as  exemplify- 
ing the  perpetual  motion.  From  dawn  to  night, 
and  thence  to  dawn  again,  here  is  a  continued, 
never-ceasing  succession  of  editors  and  sub-ed- 
itors, reporters  of  various  topics,  correspondents 
from  foreign  states,  and  from  the  provinces,  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers,  politicians  and  players, 
compositors,  pressmen,  and  engineers;  also 
crowds  of  news-vendors  and  letter-carriers,  with 
carts  and  horses  to  convey  loads  of  wet  Papers  to 
railway  stations.  Could  an  inquiring  and  acute 
foreigner  see  and  appreciate  the  whole  working  of 
this  complicated  machine,  he  would  marvel,  and 
vainly  attempt  to  give  a  full  and  vivid  account  of 
it  to  his  distant  friends  and  countrymen.  During 
the  sitting  of  Parliament,  and  when  warmly-con- 
tested party  questions  are  under  discussion,  the 
activity  and  excitement  in  this  region  are  only  to 
be  compared  to  a  hive  of  bees,  at  the  time  of 
swarming.  Unlike  the  generality  of  London  busl- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 


ness,  that  of  the  News-press  is  generally  conducted 
during  the  night,  and  whilst  most  people  are  re- 
posing in  bed.  Hence  we  see  the  windows  of  the 
offices  fully  lighted  up,  and  hear  the  continued  rat- 
tle and  noise  of  steam  machines  and  presses  in 
ceaseless  operation.  I  cannot  reflect  on  the  com- 
parative and  contrasted  state  of  the  Newspaper- 
press,  in  its  mechanical  and  literary  characteristics, 
as  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  when  I 
was  occasionally  admitted  into  the  editor's  "sanc- 
tum," and  as  it  is  now,  when  such  important  re- 
forms have  been  produced  in  all  departments  of 
paper,  type,  ink,  and  particularly  in  machinery; 
but  still  more  in  the  independence  and  integrity, 
the  vigour  and  comprehensiveness  of  editorial 
writings,  without  feeling  astonished  and  delighted. 
It  is  these  improvements  and  powers  which  have 
conspired  to  gain  for  the  English  Press  the  polit- 
ical title  above-named.  To  the  late  James  Perry, 
John  Walter,  Thomas  Barnes,  and  a  few  other  tal- 
ented and  honest  men,  much  of  these  effects  are  to 
be  ascribed;  and  I  indulge  the  hope  that  others 
of  like  powers  may  continue  in  the  same  ranks, 
and  act  as  substantial  checks  against  every  species 
of  tyranny  and  dishonesty  in  church  and  state, 
in  law  and  commerce,  and,  indeed,  in  all  grada- 
tions of  civilized  society. 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

At  No.  15,  back  of  St.  Clement's,  Strand,  "The 
British  Press"  and  "The  Globe"  first  made  their 
public  appearance  in  1803,  "with  new  and  high 
pretensions,"  and  were  ostensibly  started  by,  and 
intended  to  promote  the  views  and  trading  specu- 
lations of,  the  publishing  booksellers.  These  had 
justly  complained  of  the  capricious  charges  made 
by  the  Newspaper  proprietors  for  advertisements, 
and  also  for  the  heedless  manner  in  which  notices 
of  fine  and  expensive  literary  publications  were 
associated  with  vile  and  disgusting  quack  puffs. 
To  remedy  such  evils,  and  obtain  a  medium  be- 
tween themselves  and  the  public,  they  procured 
premises,  type,  an  editor,  and  the  combined  es- 
tablishment for  conducting  a  newspaper.  George 
Lane  was  engaged  as  editor,  who  had  been  on  the 
"Morning  Post,"  and  the  "Courier,"  under  Daniel 
Stuart.  This  gentleman  wrote  an  explanation  of 
the  dispute  between  the  publishers  and  newspaper 
proprietors  in  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  (Sept. 
1838)  to  vindicate  himself  and  his  brothers  of  the 
periodical  press,  and  impeach  the  former.  Mr. 
George  Lane,  in  the  same  magazine,  published  a 
reply  and  justification  of  the  booksellers.  Among 
the  reforms  and  improvements  which  the  present 
denizens  of  London  have  cause  to  rejoice  in,  when 
compared  with  their  predecessors,  who  lived 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

amidst  and  under  numerous  annoyances  of  sav- 
age warfare,  may  be  specified  the  relief  from  ruth- 
less gangs  of  street  news-vendors,  who  infested 
the  peaceable  and  nervous  inhabitants  with  noises 
that  surpassed  bedlamites  broke  loose.  Tin  horns, 
of  different  calibre  and  sounds,  mixed  with  yells 
and  bawling  of  men  and  boys,  in  troops,  who  pa- 
raded the  quiet  streets  proclaiming,  "News!  Great 
news!  Bloody  news!  Armies  slaughtered  by  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands: — 'Currior'!  Extra- 
ordinary 'Currior' ! !  Sixth  edition  of  'The  Cur- 
rior'!!!&c.,  &c." 

By  examining  some  early  numbers  of  the 
"British  Press,"  I  cannot  wonder  that  it  failed  to 
secure  purchasers,  and  consequently  did  not  an- 
swer the  requirements  of  the  speculators.  Poor 
paper,  bad  printing,  tasteless  display,  and  ineffi- 
ciency of  editorship,  are  conspicuous.  Mr.  Lane 
acknowledged  that  "the  actual  sale  did  not  exceed 
two  hundred."  The  "British  Press"  proved  a  com- 
plete failure,  and  it  was  given  up.  The  "Globe'' 
was,  however,  continued,  under  new  proprietary 
management,  and  is  still  among  the  diurnal  jour- 
nals. 

John  Bell,  of  the  Strand. — Not  only  as  an  enter- 
prising and  spirited  publisher,  but  as  an  author, 
this  gentleman  continued  before  the  public  many 
136 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

years,  and  brought  forward  a  succession  of  lit- 
erary and  embellished  works  which  gratified  and 
gave  profitable  employ  to  numerous  writers,  ar- 
tists, printers,  stationers,  &c.  His  "British  Poets," 
"British  Theatre,"  part  of  which  includes  the  plays 
of  Shakspeare;  his  "Weekly  Messenger/'  com- 
menced May,.  1796;  the  "New  Weekly  Messen- 
ger," a  paper  of  unprecedented  quantity  and  va- 
ried literary  matter,  commenced  in  1832;  his  "New 
Pantheon,  or  Historical  Dictionary  of  Heathen 
Gods,  Demi-Gods,  Goddesses,  &c.,"  which 
Lowndes  calls  "an  excellent  and  useful  compila- 
tion ;"  and  his  "Classical  Arrangement  of  Fugitive 
Poetry,"  in  18  vols.,  were  each  and  all  variously 
popular,  and  calculated  to  gratify  and  improve  the 
minds  and  taste  of  readers  by  their  literary  and 
graphic  contents.  In  embellishments,  he  em- 
ployed the  best  artists  of  the  age,  both  for  designs 
and  for  engravings.  He  also  produced  a  monthly 
periodical  called  "La  Belle  Assemble." 

Rudolph  Ackermann,  from  Germany,  settled  in 
the  Strand,  opposite  old  Exeter  'Change,  at  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century,  as  a  Printseller;  and 
by  perseverance,  industry,  and  skill  in  business, 
with  some  knowledge  of  art,  progressively  ad- 
vanced himself  and  his  establishment  to  the  high- 
est degree  of  prosperity  and  credit.  When  I  first 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

became  acquainted  with  him,  in  1800,  his  shop 
was  small,  and  his  first  floor  was  let  to  my  friend, 
George  Holmes,  an  artist,  who  was  induced  by  my 
suggestion  to  publish,  in  1801,  an  octavo  volume, 
"Sketches  of  a  Tour  through  the  South  Part  of 
Ireland.'  The  artist,  though  possessed  of  abilities 
and  of  very  engaging  manners,  did  riot  advance  in 
life  so  fast  as  his  landlord,  who  soon  required  and 
occupied  the  whole  house,  and  increased  his  busi- 
ness, family,  and  fortune.  He  then  moved  to 
larger  premises,  at  No.  101,  Strand,  which  occu- 
pied part  of  the  site  of  the  old  Fountain  Tavern, 
celebrated  in  the  days  of  Steele,  Addison,  Pope, 
&c.  Here  was  also  a  famed  drawing  academy, 
in  which  Richard  Cosway,  F.  Wheatley,  Shipley, 
and  others,  afterwards  men  of  fame,  were  pupils. 
The  more  noted  lecture-room  of  John  Thelwall 
present  large  and  commodious  "Repository,"  at 
the  corner  of  Beaufort  Buildings,  from  the  designs 
of  Mr.  Papworth.  This  building  occupies  the  site 
of  five  previous  houses.  The.  new  edifice  was  pro- 
vided with  a  fine  and  spacious  gallery,  at  the  rear, 
in  which  were  constantly  on  view  a  vast  number 
and  variety  of  works  of  art.  The  architect  also 
made  many  designs,  and  wrote  essays  for  Acker- 
mann's  Magazine.  The  shop,  the  staircase,  the 
gallery,  &c.,  were  not  only  lighted  but  brilliantly 
138 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

illuminated  by  night,  with  gas,  which  was  manu- 
factured on  the  premises,  from  apparatus  which 
Mr.  Ackermann  had  invented,  and  which  was  sup- 
plied with  Canal,  or  Kennel  coal,  producing  the 
most  vivid  light.  During  the  first  winter,  after 
these  works  were  completed,  crowds  of  the  nobil- 
ity, gentry,  and  artists,  were  in  the  habit  of  visiting 
the  place  every  night,  to  see  the  splendid  novel- 
ties. Once  a  week  the  proprietor  opened  his  gal- 
leries for  a  Soiree,  where  I  often  met  many  of  the 
most  eminent  artists  and  men  of  science  of  our 
own  and  of  foreign  countries.  Amongst  numer- 
ous interesting  articles  displayed  on  these  occa- 
sions was  a  copy  of  the  spirited  proprietor's  work 
on  Westminster  Abbey,  printed  on  vellum  and 
bound  in  two  large  volumes;  one  containing  the 
letter-press,  printed  in  Bensley's  best  manner,  the 
other  comprising  proofs  of  the  plates  and  the  orig- 
inal drawings,  also  skilfully  mounted.  The  bind- 
ing, of  the  most  sumptuous  kind,  alone  cost  Mr. 
Ackermann  nearly  three  hundred  pounds!  This 
very  splendid  work  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
John  Allnut,  Esq.,  of  Clapham,  whose  gallery  of 
pictures  by  English  Artists  not  only  reflects  hon- 
our on  his  taste  and  liberality,  but  on  his  patriot- 
ism. 

This  article  alone  serves  to  give  some  notion 


LITERARY   LONDON. 

of  the  liberal  and  enterprising  disposition  of  the 
amiable  and  estimable  German,  who  manifested  a 
corresponding  liberality  and  enthusiasm  in  all  his 
business  speculations  and  intercourse  with  artists 
and  literati.  Mr.  Shoberl  tells  me  that  he  paid  Wil- 
liam Combe  at  least  £400.  a  year  for  many  succes- 
sive years,  and  that  he  was  often  a  guest  at  his 
table;  that  he  proved  a  friend  to  him  during  his 
last  illness,  and  not  only  contributed  towards,  but 
waited  on  several  of  his  rich  friends  to  solicit  aid 
in  the  expenses  for  the  funeral,  tomb,  &c. 

To  this  improvident,  indiscreet  man,  to  T.  Row- 
landson,  to  W.  H.  Pyne,  and  to  several  other  per- 
sons, he  was  the  warm  and  generous  patron.  In- 
deed in  all  his  public  dealings,  as  well  as  in  private 
life,  he  displayed  generosity,  courtesy,  frankness, 
sincerity,  and  unostentatious  benevolence.  After 
the  disastrous,  murderous,  and  devasting  wars  of 
the  French  Revolution,  the  Germans  were  reduced 
to  the  most  distressing  condition.  Poverty  and 
privation  pervaded  their  towns,  their  villages,  and 
their  entire  provinces.  The  English,  as  usual,  af- 
forded many  of  the  emigrants  homes  and  susten- 
ance. To  Mr.  Ackermann  they  were  indebted  for 
a  vast  amount  of  aid  and  comfort.  He  took  a  most 
active  and  zealous  part  in  obtaining  subscriptions 
and  remitting  money  to  his  countrymen.  No  less 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

than  £250,000.  were  collected  for  the  sufferers  in 
Great  Britain,  £100,000.  of  which  were  voted  by 
Parliament;  and  as  a  proof  of  the  effective  service 
of  my  friend  on  this  occasion,  he  was  rewarded 
and  honoured  by  the  King  of  Saxony  with  the 
Cross  of  Civil  Merit;  whilst  the  King  of  Prussia, 
and  several  of  the  reigning  Dukes  of  Germany, 
presented  him  with  handsome  testimonials  in 
token  of  his  valuable  services. 

As  Cicerone  to  Mr.  Ackermann's  Gallery,  my 
friend,  William  Henry  Pyne,  was  engaged,  and  in 
that  capacity  was  respectably  and  profitably  em- 
ployed, both  for  himself  and  for  his  worthy  master. 
The  former  had  published,  and  progressively  pro- 
duced numerous  works,  both  graphic  and  literary, 
in  all  of  which,  from  partialities  and  experience, 
Pyne  became  eminently  useful.  Hence  the  artist 
and  the  printseller  worked  in  harmony  and  unison 
for  some  years,  and  jointly  completed  several  pub- 
lications on  the  fine  arts,  topography,  and  poetry. 
Besides  several  lessons,  elementary  books  and 
prints,  for  the  instruction  of  young  artists,  they 
brought  forward  a  large  and  expensive  work,  en- 
titled "The  Microcosm  of  London/'  3  vols.  royal 
4to.  with  1 20  illustrative  prints.  To  Mr.  Acker- 
mann  we  are  indebted  for  the  introduction  into 
England,  and  for  effecting  many  improvements  in 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  new  art,  of  Lithography,  by  translating  and 
giving  publicity  to  Senefelder's  Treatise  on  the 
subject;  a  work  that  excited  much  curiosity,  spec- 
ulation, and  experiments  among  the  artists.  He 
also  imported  stones  for  that  novel  process,  and 
by  adapting  presses  and  paper,  and  by  the  employ- 
ment of  competent  artists  to  make  drawings,  pro- 
gressively, but  slowly,  advanced  lithography  to 
distinction.  The  following  lines  were  written  by 
Mr.  Combe  on  the  first  lithograph  stone  which 
Mr.  Ackermann  printed,  when  he  had  prepared 
everything  for  working: 

"  I  have  been  told  of  one  "  But  here  we  manage  better; 

Who,  being  ask'd  for  bread,  The  Stone,  we  ask 

In  its  stead  To  do  its  task, 

Return'd  a  Stone:  And  it  returns  us  every  letter. 

"  Wm.  Combe,  January  23,  1817." 

He  was  the  first  publisher  of  a  class  of  books, 
called  "Annuals/'  by  his  "Forget-me-Not,"  which 
became  exceedingly  popular,  and  was  a  source  of 
employ  to  numerous  artists,  authors,  and  different 
tradesmen.  The  "Forget-me-Not"  was  edited, 
from  its  commencement  in  1823,  to  its  last  volume 
in  1834,  by  F.  Shoberl,  one  of  the  most  industri- 
ous, persevering,  and  honourable  of  the  literary 
fraternity,  who  has  been  solely,  or  mostly,  depend- 
ant on  his  profession  for  a  livelihood.  Watt,  in 
"Bibliotheca  Britannica,"  has  given  a  long  list  of 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

his  publications,  in  translations  from  the  French 
and  German,  original  and  compilations,  from  1800 
to  1814,  since  which  year  he  has  written  a  further 
and  longer  list  of 'works:  amongst  others  I  per- 
ceive that  his  name  is  attached  to  the  histories  of 
the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Surrey,  and  Sussex,  form- 
ing one  of  the  volumes  of  "The  Beauties  of  Eng- 
land." 

A  history  of  this  literary  family — "the  Annuals" 
— would  embrace  much  curious  anecdote,  biogra- 
phy, and  exposition  of  art  and  artists;  of  profes- 
sional and  amateur  authors;  of  trade,  manufac- 
tures, and  commerce;  of  fashion,  fame,  and  friv- 
olity; and  last,  though  not  the  least,  the  fluctuation 
and  caprices  of  taste  and  ton.  The  "Annuals," 
which  were  so  popular  and  profitable  to  a  Heath, 
and  a  Fisher,  twenty  years  ago,  are  now  supersed- 
ed, and  a  totally  different  and  new  species  has  been 
introduced  by  Messrs.  Longman  and  Co.  and  by 
Virtue;  in  which  topography,  history,  travels,  and 
substantial  literature  are  the  basis. 

His  large  and  handsome  volumes,  with  illustra- 
tions, of  Westminster  Abbey,  of  Cambridge,  Ox- 
ford, and  of  Public  Schools,  were  amongst  the 
most  beautiful  topographical  works  of  their  class, 
in  paper,  typography,  and  embellishments.  The 
writing,  though  anonymous,  was  by  William 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

Combe,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of  his 
age,  and  who  ranks  amongst  the  most  prolific  of 
authors. 

Though  I  was  never  on  intimate  terms  with  this 
talented  and  eccentric  person,  I  knew  him  person- 
ally by  meeting  him  often  at  the  houses  of  my 
friends,  the  Ackermanns,  and  James  Lonsdale, 
portrait-painter  of  Berners  Street.  Combe  was  of 
good  family  connection,  had  received  a  classical 
education  at  Eton  and  Oxford,  and  very  early 
came  into  the  possession  of  a  large  fortune,  in 
ready  money.  To  dash  at  once  into  high  life,  and 
enact  the  fashionable  gentleman,  he  (according 
to  his  own  narration)  took  a  large  mansion  at  "the 
West  End"  of  London,  furnished  and  filled  it  with 
gorgeous  articles,  and  also  hired  servants,  bought 
carriages,  &c.;  and  successively  assembled  around 
him  a  crowd  of  sycophants  and  the  "beau-monde." 
This  comedy,  or  rather  farce,  lasted  only  for  a 
short  time,  and  it  is  said  that  from  the  commence- 
ment to  the  drop-scene  of  the  ridiculous  drama, 
was  not  more  than  one  year.  Though  he  fancied 
this  gave  him  an  insight  into  high  life,  it  is  quite 
evident  that  the  company  thus  assembled,  and  thus 
held  together,  could  only  be  of  a  class  which 
ought  to  rank  below  the  low — gamblers,  swindlerss 
tricksters,  imposters,  &c.  The  consequence  was 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

ruin — complete,  disgraceful  ruin,  and  Combe  fled 
from  his  creditors  and  from  society.  We  next 
hear  of  him  as  a  common  soldier,  and  recognized 
at  a  public-house  with  a  volume  of  Greek  poetry  in 
his  hand.  He  was  relieved  from  this  degrading 
situation,  and  henceforward,  for  a  long  period, 
the  annals  of  his  life  have  been  pretty  fully  de- 
tailed. The  walls  of  the  King's  Bench  Prison, 
and  "the  Rules'1  of  that  famed  establishment,  were 
the  limits  and  sphere  of  his  locomotion;  and  from 
his  conduct,  manners,  and  general  deportment  in 
society,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  proved  causes 
of  much  punishment  or  lamentation.  Horace 
Smith,  in  the  Memoirs  of  his  witty  and  much-ca- 
ressed brother,  James,  says,  that  Colonel  Greville, 
with  several  of  his  friends,  established  a  Pic-nic 
club  for  theatrical  amusements,  &c.,  and  published 
a  newspaper  to  vindicate  their  association  from 
severe  strictures  that  appeared  in  the  daily  papers 
against  them.  Our  imprisoned  hero  was  appoint- 
ed the  paid  editor,  and,  to  suit  his  peculiarity  of  sit- 
uation, the  weekly  meetings  of  the  writers  of  ar- 
ticles were  held  after  dark.  Horace  Smith,  who 
knew  Combe,  justly  remarks,  that  "a  faithful  bi- 
ography of  this  singular  character  might  justly  be 
entitled  a  romance  of  real  life ;  so  strange  were  the 
adventures  and  the  freaks  of  fortune  of  which  he 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

had  been  a  participator  and  a  victim.  A  ready 
writer  of  all-work  for  the  booksellers,  he  passed  all 
the  latter  portion  of  his  time  within  'the  Rules/  to 
which  suburban  retreat  the  present  writer  was  oc- 
casionally invited,  and  never  left  him  without  ad- 
miring his  various  acquirements,  and  the  philoso- 
phical equanimity  with  which  he  endured  his  re- 
verses." Mr.  Smith  further  asserts,  that  if  there 
was  a  lack  of  matter  occasionally  to  fill  up  the  col- 
umns of  their  paper,  "Combe  would  sit  down  in 
the  publisher's  back  room  and  extemporize  a  let- 
ter from  Sterne  at  Coxwold,  a  forgery  so  well  exe- 
cuted that  it  never  excited  suspicion."  I  cannot 
but  regret  that  my  witty  friend  had  not  favoured 
us  with  more  anecdotes  of,  and  remarks  on,  the 
character  and  literary  talents  of  Combe;  but  I  can 
easily  excuse  him  when  I  reflect  on  the  supera- 
bundance of  material  which  his  memory  and  his 
memoranda  must  have  afforded  for  the  two  amus- 
ing volumes  he  had  planned  of  his  brother's  mem- 
orable "sayings  and  doings."  Were  I  disposed  to 
dwell  on  the  character  of  Combe,  I  could  extend 
the  present  description  to  several  pages.  He  was 
born  in  1741,  and  died  in  June  1814.  Subsequent 
to  his  death,  a  small  volume  was  published,  enti- 
tled "Letters  to  Marianne,"  said  to  have  been  writ- 
ten by  him  after  the  age  of  seventy  to  a  young 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

girl,  and,  according  to  the  "Literary  Gazette,"  are 
trivial,  silly,  puerile.  However  eventful  and  amus- 
ing may  be  the  adventures  and  vicissitudes  of  such 
a  man  as  Combe,  if  narrated  by  a  Dickens,  a 
Thackeray,  or  a  Douglas  Jerrold,  I  must  resign 
the  task  to  such  vivid  writers,  or  their  followers, 
and  merely  refer  to  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine," 
for  May  1852,  for  a  communication  from  my 
friend,  Mr.  R.  Cole,  who  has  a  large  collection  of 
Autograph  Letters  and  Manuscripts,  amongst 
which  is  a  detailed  list  of  the  literary  works  of,  and 
numerous  letters  from  and  to  Combe. 

The  engravings  of  Westminster  Abbey,  of 
Cambridge,  Oxford,  and  of  the  Public  Schools 
were  in  aquatint,  and  coloured  in  imitation  of  the 
original  drawings,  by  Mackenzie,  Pugin,  W. 
Westall,  F.  Nash,  W.  Turner,  and  others :  many  of 
them  represent  interior  views  of  the  principal  pub- 
lic buildings.  There  are  also  prints  of  full-length 
portraits  from  drawings  by  T.  Uwins,  and  etch- 
ings by  J.  Agar,  representing  the  official  costume 
of  all  the  different  orders  of  Officers  of  the  Uni- 
versities. Mr.  Ackermann  also  brought  out  a  Po- 
etical Magazine,  which  became  the  parent  of  a 
race  of  novel  publications  of  unprecedented  no- 
toriety. These  were  a  sort  of  hybrid  twins  of  po- 
etry and  art,  in  the  illustrated,  or  rhyming,  ram- 
147 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

bling,  ricketty,  and  ridiculous  poems,  "Dr.  Syn- 
tax's Tour  in  Search  of  the  Picturesque."  The  work 
not  only  passed  through  several  editions,  of  three 
Tours,  but  extended  to  three  volumes;  and  within 
the  last  few  years  they  have  been  again  brought 
before  the  public  at  reduced  prices  by  Mr.  H.  G. 
Bohn.  "Dr.  Syntax"  was  a  lucky  and  large  prize 
in  the  lottery  of  publication,  and  was  also  a  novelty 
in  origin  and  writing.  Instead  of  the  composition 
and  designs  for  the  illustrations  growing  out  of, 
and  serving  to  ornament  and  give  tangible  forms, 
figures,  colours,  effects,  &c.,  to  the  language  and 
imaginings  of  the  poet,  or  other  writer;  the  artist, 
in  the  work  referred  to,  preceded  the  author  by 
making  a  series  of  drawings;  in  each  of  which  he 
exhibited  his  hero  in  a  succession  of  places,  and 
in  various  associations,  calculated  to  exemplify  his 
hobby-horsical  search  for  the  picturesque.  Some 
of  these  drawings,  by  the  versatile  and  ingenious 
artist,  Rowlandson,  were  shown  at  a  dinner-party, 
at  John  Bannister's,  in  Gower  Street,  when  it  was 
agreed  they  should  be  recommended  to  Acker- 
mann  for  publication.  That  gentleman  readily  pur- 
chased, and  handed  them  by  two  or  three  at  a 
time  to  Combe,  when  the  latter  was  in  the  King's 
Bench.  He  fitted  them  with  rhymes,  and  they 
made  their  first  appearance  in  the  magazine  allud- 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

ed  to.  Exciting  much  popularity,  the  publisher  re- 
produced them  in  separate  volumes,  and  found  de- 
mand keep  pace  with  his  supply.  Hence  "  Syntax  " 
was  succeeded  by  "The  Dance  of  Life,"  "The 
Dance  of  Death,"  "Johnny  Quae  Genus,"  and 
"Tom  Raw  the  Griffin,"  all  of  the  same  class  and 
character,  and  ultimately  extending  to  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five  prints,  with  annotatory  poet- 
ical letter-press. 

Without  adverting  further,  in  this  place,  to  the 
periodical  press  and  publishers,  generally,  I  cannot 
forbear  to  notice  two  weekly  journals  which  had 
their  birth  in  this  locality,  and  which  have  proved 
themselves  resolute  and  powerful  advocates  of 
moral,  political,  and  literary  reforms:  viz.,  "The 
Examiner,"  and  the  "Literary  Gazette."  The  for- 
mer was  projected  and  undertaken  by  two  enthusi- 
astic young  men,  almost  boys,  John  and  Leigh 
Hunt,  who  thought  patriotism  and  literature  were 
the  only  thing  worth  living  for;  and  believing 
themselves  not  only  slighted,  but  oppressed  by  the 
rulers  of  the  land,  thought  that  it  would  be  glori- 
ous, either  to  obtain  emancipation,  or  suffer  mar- 
tyrdom in  the  attempt.  They  paid  dearly  for  their 
rashness  and  courage,  as  may  be  seen  fully  set 
forth,  with  honest  candour  and  truthfulness,  by 
the  latter,  in  his  Auto-Biography,  in  3  vols.,  pub- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

lished  in  1850,  to  which  work  I  can  refer  the  read- 
er, with  an  assurance  that  he  will  find  much  amus- 
ing as  well  as  eloquent  and  exciting  commentary 
on  the  popular  events  and  persons  of  the  half- 
century  after  the  year  1800. 

Amongst  the  literary  persons  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, that  voluminous  author  ranks  in  the  first  class. 
From  boyhood  (for  he  was  a  precocious  poet),  up 
to  the  present  time  (1853),  his  whole  time  and 
mental  energies  appear  to  have  been  employed  in 
literature;  and  the  amount,  variety,  and  merits  of 
his  numerous  published  writings  are  at  once  man- 
ifestations of  industry,  enthusiasm,  zeal,  an  ardent 
love  of  liberty,  and  of  the  better  productions  of 
genius  and  talent.  His  first  volume,  intituled  "Ju- 
venilia/' was  a  series  of  poems  written  between 
the  ages  of  twelve  and  sixteen.  It  appeared  in  the 
year  1801,  when,  I  believe,  he  was  in  "The  Blue- 
Coat  School,"  and  a  contemporary  with  the  two 
brilliant  intellectual  planets  in  the  hemisphere  of 
talent,  Coleridge  and  Lamb.  The  times  when  his 
first  volume  made  its  public  appearance,  when  its 
author  sought  the  approval  of  critics  and  patrons, 
were  rife  with  political  excitement  and  conten- 
tion. Party  spirit  was  violent  and  rancorous ;  and 
every  person  who  possessed  warm  feelings  and 
thinking  powers  became  imperceptibly  a  jacobin, 

150 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

or  an  anti-jacobin:  i.  e.,  a  Reformer,  or  a  Tory, 
opposed  to  all  changes.  Mr.  Leigh  Hunt  and  his 
brother  John  avowed  themselves  of  the  former 
class,  and  started  their  "Examiner,"  as  a  medium 
to  promulgate  their  sentiments,  and  oppose  both 
the  opinions  and  principles  of  the  other  party. 

The  consequence  was,  State  prosecutions  and 
consequent  heavy  fines,  as  well  as  cruel  imprison- 
ment. Unintimidated  and  unflinching,  they  con- 
tinued to  publish  the  "Examiner,"  and  also  con- 
tinued to  occupy  its  weekly  columns  with  severe 
and  caustic  writings  on  the  malpractices  of  min- 
isters, and  on  the  vices  and  follies  of  those  princes, 
nobles,  and  commoners,  who  lived  and  luxuriated 
on  the  revenues  of  the  State. 

One  department  of  their  paper  was  devoted  to 
the  "Fine  Arts,"  the  criticisms  and  comments  on 
which  were  mostly  written  by  Robert  Hunt, 
brother  of  the  two  partners.  Related  to  Benjamin 
West,  the  President  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
having  been  educated  as  an  artist,  this  gentleman 
rendered  his  critical  articles  popular  and  influen- 
tial. He  wrote  two  or  three  Essays  for  me,  which 
appeared  in  "The  Fine  Arts  of  the  English 
School;"  and  also  produced  others  for  different 
publications. 

"The  Literary  Gazette,"  which  made  its  first  ap- 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

pearance  on  the  25th  of  January,  1817,  has  proved 
eminently  serviceable  in  promoting  the  national 
literature,  as  well  as  its  fine  arts.  It  was  at  first 
the  property  of  Mr.  Colburn,  an  active  and  enter- 
prising publisher,  who  possessed  "The  New 
Monthly  Magazine/'  and  other  works  of  popu- 
larity, and  who  eagerly  availed  himself  of  every 
channel  to  attract  the  notice,  and  excite  the  curi- 
osity, of  readers.  A  new  medium  was  found  in  this 
Gazette,  which  not  merely  professed  to  advocate, 
but  to  bring  forward  the  better  specimens  of  liter- 
ature, and  scout  and  expose  its  quackery.  It  is 
generally  admitted  that  it  was  almost  constantly 
kind,  generous,  and  complimentary  to  young  as- 
pirants for  fame — in  authorship,  art,  and  the 
drama.  I  cannot,  however,  forget,  or  palliate  the 
severity  it  manifested  towards  a  youthful  Poet  of 
real  genius  and  equal  modesty,  who  ventured  to 
launch  a  small  volume  on  the  "sea  of  troubles," 
and  which  was  assailed  by  the  "Literary  Gazette" 
in  unqualified  terms  of  reprobation.  The  princi- 
pal poem  was  "Richmond  Hill,"  a  site  calculated 
to  arouse  the  most  intense  admiration  in  every 
lover  of  the  fine  and  beautiful  scenery  of  nature. 
In  his  verses  on  this  fascinating  prospect,  I  may 
safely  assert  that  Charles  Ellis  evinced  ardent  feel- 
ings as  well  as  genuine  sympathies  for  the  beauties 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

of  the  scene,  and  also  genuine,  if  not  the  highest, 
poetical  powers  to  depict  them. 

The  new  periodical  ultimately  proved  a  large  prize 
in  the  lottery  of  book-speculation,  as  it  progres- 
sively rose  high  in  the  thermometer  of  fashion  and 
fame.  Its  progress  and  fluctuating  annals  would 
afford  abundance  of  interest  to  the  general  reader, 
were  they  fully  and  faithfully  narrated.  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Jerdan,  who  tells  us  in  his  Auto-Biography 
that  he  was  its  "sole  editor  and  part-proprietor,  from 
its  commencement  to  August  14,  1841,"  has  nar- 
rated many  particulars  of  its  contents,  contribu- 
tors, proprietors,  and  changes.  To  that  work 
I  must  refer  my  reader,  as  well  as  for  an  account 
of  the  literary  career  and  worldly  vicissitudes  of  an 
old  friend,  with  whom  I  have  continued  in  occa- 
sional correspondence  and  personal  intercourse 
for  nearly  forty  years:  I  cannot,  however,  help 
deeply  regretting  to  read  his  account  of  the  profes- 
sion of  authorship;  it  being  so  much  at  variance 
with  my  own  experience  and  opinions.  These  1 
have  partly  explained  in  the  "The  Rights  of  Liter- 
ature,'' in  "The  Authorship  of  the  Letters  of  Junius 
Elucidated,"  and  in  other  parts  of  my  numerous 
publications.  On  referring  to  past  volumes  of  the 
"Literary  Gazette,"  I  always  find  them  replete  with 
valuable  and  interesting  information  on  the  con- 
153 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

temporary  literature,  the  fine  arts,  science,  and 
the  drama;  also  on  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  constantly  changing  times  from  1817  to  1850. 
The  recent  numbers  of  this  weekly  periodical  show 
it  to  be  conducted  by  an  editor  of  science,  can- 
dour, and  literary  talents. 

The  Strand  has  long  been  known  as  the  place 
of  congress  of  certain  learned  and  eminent  nation- 
al societies,  whose  "Transactions"  have  travelled 
to,  and  been  located  and  studied  in,  all  the  civilized 
cities  of  the  globe.  Those  of  the  Royal,  the  An- 
tiquaries, and  the  Astronomical,  have  free  quar- 
ters within  the  government  edifice  of  Somerset 
House ;  whilst  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  a  noble  man- 
sion of  its  own,  has  taken  root  and  prospered,  in 
John  Street,  close  to  the  Strand.  The  history  of 
each  and  all  of  these  societies  is  replete  with  in- 
teresting matter,  not  merely  for  the  archaeologist 
and  scientific,  but  for  the  historian  of  man,  in  de- 
veloping the  progress  of  his  intellectual  qualifica- 
tions. Mr.  Weld  has  given  to  the  public  a  well- 
digested  history  of  that  of  the  Royal,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  other  authors  will  shortly  produce  sim- 
ilar publications  on  their  respective  societies. 

No.  32  in  the  Strand  was  a  large  print-shop,  be- 
longing to  Mr.  Richardson,  whose  extensive  col- 
lection was  noted  for  portraits,  topographical  and 
154 


THE  STRAND,  ETC, 

antiquarian  prints,  and  for  public  sales  of  that  class 
of  property.  In  February  and  March,  1800,  he 
sold  an  amazing  collection  of  British  portraits, 
which  continued  for  thirty-one  days,  and  whfch 
appears  to  have  been  accumulating  for  forty  years. 
He  was  also  employed  on  many  other  similar  oc- 
casions to  dispose  of  graphic  works.  During  the 
winter  he  frequently  had  sales  in  the  evening, 
which  I  often  attended,  and  as  often  puchased 
"lots."  Here  I  met  several  gentlemen,  with  whom 
I  became  intimate,  from  congeniality  of  attach- 
ments. Amongst  these  were  Mr.  Alexander,  of 
the  British  Museum,  Mr.  Baker,  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  Mr.  R.  Holford,  Mr.  Bentham,  Mr. 
Bindley,  Dr.  Gossett,  Mr.  Molteno,  and  several 
others,  whose  hoards  have  since  been  again 
brought  to  the  hammer,  and  distributed  to  amuse 
other  illustrators.  Richardson  published  several 
portraits,  fac-similes  of  scarce  prints,  and  also  three 
different-sized  prints  of  the  "Felton  Shakspeare," 
as  it  is  usually  named.  At  his  rooms  were  sold 
by  auction  the  famed  collections  of  Musgrave  and 
of  Tighe. 

In  the  Strand  were  the  shops  of  Mr.  Faden,  Mr. 
Gary,  and  Mr.  Smith,  who  entirely  devoted  them- 
selves to  Geography,  by  publishing  Maps,  Charts, 
Globes,  &c.     I  often  visited  them  to  obtain  and 
155 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

communicate  information.  The  most  important 
topographical  surveys  were  published  by  Mr.  Fa- 
den,  but  they  were  too  expensive  for  my  pocket. 
This  gentleman  has  been  succeeded  by  James 
Wyld,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  who  has  brought  into  the  busi- 
ness more  energy  and  enterprise  than  his  prede- 
cessor, and  has  consequently  produced  great 
changes  and  improvements  in  his  published  works. 
As  a  feature  of  the  times  in  which  we  live,  we  find 
that  Mr.  Wyld  is  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
a  bold  competitor  with  the  daring  and  unparalleled 
Crystal  Palace  of  1851,  by  designing  and  con- 
structing a  building,  with  an  exhibition  to  display 
the  geographical  surface  of  the  terrestrial  Globe. 
The  invention  and  the  execution  are  honourable 
to  his  name  and  country;  and  it  is  hoped  that  it 
will  reward  his  enterprise. 

I  always  travelled  with  the  best  small  map  I 
could  obtain,  and  marked  in  such  alterations  and 
corrections  as  I  met  with.  These  were  handed 
over  to  the^publishers,  and  consequently  inserted 
in  new  impressions  of  their  respective  plates.  The 
Trigonometrical  and  the  Ordnance  Surveys  were 
not  published  when  I  walked  round  Wales,  into 
Cornwall,  and  through  some  other  districts.  These 
truly  important  national  works  are  now  produced, 
and,  being  sold  at  very  low  prices,  are  of  incalcu- 
156 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

lable  value  to  modern  antiquaries  and  topogra- 
phers. 

Near  the  western  end  of  the  Strand,  on  the 
North  side,  was  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Baxter,  having 
in  the  rear  a  large  Room,  which  he  let  out  for  pri- 
vate theatricals,  for  debates,  and  for  readings  and 
music.  His  wife  possessed  a  fine  soprano  voice, 
played  well  on  the  piano-forte,  and  occasionally 
performed  on  the  stage.  At  this  place  I  became 
acquainted  with  George  Saville  Carey,  who  pub- 
lished a  small  volume  called  "Balnea,  or  Sketches 
of  Watering-places,"  1799,  which,  I  believe,  was 
the  first  work  that  gave  a  general  account  of  those 
famed  places  of  fashionable  resort;  and  it 
would  be  interesting  to  show  the  extent, 
population,  &c.,  of  Bath,  Brighton,  Leam- 
ington, Margate,  and  Buxton,  as  they  were 
when  that  volume  was  published,  and  as 
they  now  are.  Carey  wrote  a  volume  on  "Mim- 
icry," and  was  famed  for  his  Imitations  of  Garrick, 
Henderson,  Kemble,  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  others. 
I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  mellow,  flexible 
voice,  and  expressive  intonations  of  Garrick,  as 
well  as  the  dull,  phlegmatic,  monotonous  tones  of 
Kemble,  as  Carey  displayed  them:  one  was  melli- 
fluous to  the  ear,  the  other  grating  and  discordant, 
though  not  quite  so  bad  as  Coleman  describes  it 


LITERARY  LONDON. 


dies,  amongst  whom  were  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  Mr. 
Wilberforce,  and  other  personages  of  rank.  Be- 
fore he  quitted  London,  he  published  an  octavo 
volume,  with  his  portrait  engraved  by  Charles 
Turner.  Its  title  is:  "By  Authority.  Haytian 
Papers:  A  Collection  of  the  very  Interesting 
Proclamations,  and  other  Official  Documents;  to- 
gether with  some  Account  of  the  Rise,  Progress, 
and  Present  State  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hayti.  With 
a  Preface  by  Prince  Sanders,  Esq.,  Agent  for  the 
Haytian  Government.  London:  printed  for  W. 
Reed,  17,  Fleet  Street"  8vo.  1816.  This  volume  is 
a  curiosity.  I  never  heard  what  became  of  its 
editor,  after  he  left  London;  but  I  learnt  that  sev- 
eral other  persons,  as  well  as  myself,  had  been  im- 
posed on  by  him. 

Connected  with  the  Strand  are  reminiscences  of 
the  Lyceum  Theatre,  with  my  public  appearance 
on  its  stage,  and  in  the  stage-box;  of  Robert  Ker 
Porter's  exhibition  of  Seringapatam  and  other 
pictures;  of  the  wonderful  mimicry,  ventriloquism, 
and  transformations  of  Monsieur  Alexandre,  the 
rival  of  Mathews;  of  Phillipstall's  Phantasmago- 
ria; and  also  of  the  "Sans  Pareil  Theatre,"  as  it 
was  called  in  1806,  when  Mr.  Scott,  a  colour-mak- 
er, built  and  fitted  it  up  for  his  daughter,  who 
made  her  first  public  appearance  there,  and  gained 


160 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

much  applause  for  songs  and  recitations.  This 
lady's  performances,  united  with  mechanical  and 
optical  illusions,  gave  character  to  the  house,  and 
made  the  fortune  of  its  proprietor.  "Tom  and 
Jerry,"  by  Pierce  Egan,  afterwards  attracted  im- 
mense crowds,  when  the  name  of  "Little  Adelphi." 
was  given  to  the  theatre.  In  1825  Terry  and  Yates 
became  lessees,  but  lost  money.  Charles  Mathews 
joined  the  latter,  and  continued  to  give  his  popu- 
lar and  profitable  "At  Home"  here  for  three  suc- 
cessive years.  It  was  at  this  house  I  first  became 
acquainted  with  that  extraordinary  actor,  mimic, 
and  man,  and  continueB  to  meet  him  frequently 
afterwards.  He  was  born  in  1776,  at  No.  18  in  the 
Strand,  and  died  in  1835,  after  a  long  career  of 
theatrical  adventure,  vicissitude,  and  fame.  Among 
the  numerous  volumes  of  biography  and  auto-bi- 
ography of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the  sock  and 
buskin,  there  is  not  one  surpassing  in  variety,  wit, 
and  amusement,  that  of  the  eccentric  and  much- 
admired  Charles  Mathews.  It  is  written  jointly 
by  the  player  and  his  widow,  and  extends  to  four 
volumes.  A  few  pages  only  of  the  first  are  by  the 
pen  of  the  former,  and  the  remainder  is  admirably 
executed  by  the  latter. 

At  No.  145,  Strand,  were  the  book-shop  and 
auction-rooms  of  Messrs.  Leigh  and  Sotheby,  at 


161 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  in  which 
many  choice  and  costly  books  were  transferred 
from  one  collector  to  another.  Mr.  Leigh  was  es- 
tablished as  an  auctioneer  in  King  Street,  Covent 
Garden,  in  1744;  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
the  Catalogues,  with  prices  and  purchasers'  names, 
are  preserved  by  the  present  respectable  firm  in 
Wellington  Street. 

After  the  decease  of  the  first  gentleman,  the  sec- 
ond continued  the  business  for  some  years  in  the 
same  street,  and  disposed  of  many  celebrated  li- 
braries. He  has  been  succeeded  by  his  worthy 
Son,  who  inherits  many  of  the  good  points  of  his 
much-respected  parent,  and  equally  respected  part' 
ner,  retaining  the  names  of  both.  Since  the  re- 
tirement of  Mr.  Evans,  of  Pall  Mall,  Mr.  Samuel 
Leigh  Sotheby  has  been  most  extensively  oc- 
cupied in  selling  distinguished  libraries,  and,  I 
believe,  with  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  his 
employers.  On  comparing  one  of  his  recent  cata- 
logues, for  Samuel  Prout,  with  another  printed  for 
his  godfather  and  father,  in  1806,  of  nine  days'  sale 
of  the  library  of  one  of  my  earliest  literary  friends, 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher,  the  contrast  is 
remarkable.  The  last  exhibits  bad  type, 
bad  ink,  bad  paper,  and  heedless  editor- 
ship; whilst  the  former  is  the  reverse  in  all 
162 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

these  qualities:  yet  the  Boucher  Catalogue 
is  charged  33.  6d.,  and  that  of  Prout's  Col- 
lection was  given  away.  Mr.  Sotheby's  partner 
(John  Wilkinson)  conducts  the  selling  department 
with  as  much  zeal  and  promptitude  as  the  former 
manifests  in  arrangement,  catalogueing,  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  business.  Their  rooms  are  now 
in  Wellington  Street. 

In  alluding  to  the  Auction-rooms  of  the  western 
part  of  London,  it  would  seem  negligent  or  invidi- 
ous were  I  to  omit  two  which  have  been  justly  emi- 
nent in  credit  and  respectability  for  many  years 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century:  those  of 
Robert  H.  Evans,  No.  93,  Pall  Mall,  and  James 
Christie,  first  in  Pall  Mall,  and  afterwards  in  King 
Street,  St.  James's.  Brief  notices  of  the  numer- 
ous and  various  sales  of  books,  MSS.  and  prints 
which  have  been  distributed  over  the  world  by  the 
first  auctioneer,  would  extend  to  a  large  volume, 
and  might  be  made  particularly  interesting  to  the 
lovers  of  literature.  It  would  embrace  accounts 
of  a  vast  variety  of  valuable  and  important  books, 
whose  histories  involve  not  merely  their  own  in- 
trinsic merits  and  peculiarities,  but  the  fluctua- 
tions of  prices  and  caprices  of  purchasers.  Some 
have  been  highly  prized  and  hoarded  for  their 
scarcity,  (a  lamentable  criterion,  as  many  of  these 
163 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  in  which 
many  choice  and  costly  books  were  transferred 
from  one  collector  to  another.  Mr.  Leigh  was  es- 
tablished as  an  auctioneer  in  King  Street,  Covent 
Garden,  in  1744;  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
the  Catalogues,  with  prices  and  purchasers'  names, 
are  preserved  by  the  present  respectable  firm  in 
Wellington  Street. 

After  the  decease  of  the  first  gentleman,  the  sec- 
ond continued  the  business  for  some  years  in  the 
same  street,  and  disposed  of  many  celebrated  li- 
braries. He  has  been  succeeded  by  his  worthy 
Son,  who  inherits  many  of  the  good  points  of  hia 
much-respected  parent,  and  equally  respected  part' 
ner,  retaining  the  names  of  both.  Since  the  re- 
tirement of  Mr.  Evans,  of  Pall  Mall,  Mr.  Samuel 
Leigh  Sotheby  has  been  most  extensively  oc- 
cupied in  selling  distinguished  libraries,  and,  I 
believe,  with  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  his 
employers.  On  comparing  one  of  his  recent  cata- 
logues, for  Samuel  Prout,  with  another  printed  for 
his  godfather  and  father,  in  1806,  of  nine  days'  sale 
of  the  library  of  one  of  my  earliest  literary  friends, 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher,  the  contrast  is 
remarkable.  The  last  exhibits  bad  type, 
bad  ink,  bad  paper,  and  heedless  editor- 
ship; whilst  the  former  is  the  reverse  in  all 
162 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

these  qualities:  yet  the  Boucher  Catalogue 
is  charged  35.  6d.,  and  that  of  Prout's  Col- 
lection was  given  away.  Mr.  Sotheby's  partner 
(John  Wilkinson)  conducts  the  selling  department 
with  as  much  zeal  and  promptitude  as  the  former 
manifests  in  arrangement,  catalogueing,  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  business.  Their  rooms  are  now 
in  Wellington  Street. 

In  alluding  to  the  Auction-rooms  of  the  western 
part  of  London,  it  would  seem  negligent  or  invidi- 
ous were  I  to  omit  two  which  have  been  justly  emi- 
nent in  credit  and  respectability  for  many  years 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century:  those  of 
Robert  H.  Evans,  No.  93,  Pall  Mall,  and  James 
Christie,  first  in  Pall  Mall,  and  afterwards  in  King 
Street,  St.  James's.  Brief  notices  of  the  numer- 
ous and  various  sales  of  books,  MSS.  and  prints 
which  have  been  distributed  over  the  world  by  the 
first  auctioneer,  would  extend  to  a  large  volume, 
and  might  be  made  particularly  interesting  to  the 
lovers  of  literature.  It  would  embrace  accounts 
of  a  vast  variety  of  valuable  and  important  books, 
whose  histories  involve  not  merely  their  own  in- 
trinsic merits  and  peculiarities,  but  the  fluctua- 
tions of  prices  and  caprices  of  purchasers.  Some 
have  been  highly  prized  and  hoarded  for  their 
scarcity,  (a  lamentable  criterion,  as  many  of  these 
163 


LITERARY  LONDON, 

"extremely  rare"  articles  are  worthless);  others 
for  being  a  trifle  larger  in  the  margin  than  another 
copy  which  has  been  pronounced  the  tallest;  whilst 
a  third  quality  is  the  possession  of  some  cancelled 
leaf  or  print,  which  was  originally  deemed  useless, 
or  objectionable.  I  have  often  seen  the  large  sale- 
room crowded  by  real  lovers  of  literature,  by  col- 
lectors, by  bibliographers,  and  by  bibliomaniacs, 
and  witnessed  the  enormous  prices  given  for 
books,  both  of  intrinsic  beauty  and  merit,  and  of 
capricious  worth.  The  Roxburgh,  the  Sykes,  the 
Spencer,  the  Hibbert,  the  Dent,  the  Hoare,  and 
the  Broadley  libraries  were  noted  for  their  extent, 
value,  scarcity,  and  for  other  peculiarities:  some 
of  these  have  been  sold  and  resold  by  auction  since 
their  first  appearance  in  a  sale-room.  Dibdin's 
"Library  Companion,"  his  "Bibliomania,"  and  his 
"Reminiscences,"  contain  much  curious  informa- 
tion on  the  subjects  here  referred  to:  and  I  must 
not  omit  to  notice  my  respected  friend  Mr. 
Clarke's  "Repertorium  Bibliographicum,"  a  large 
royal  octavo  volume  of  1819,  which  contains  much 
valuable  and  curious  information  on  celebrated 
British  libraries,  and  their  choicest  book-treas- 
ures. 

Mr.  Christie's  Sale-rooms,  in  Pall  Mall  and  in 
King  Street,  have  been  noted  for  more  than  half 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

a  century,  as  well  for  the  high  respectability  and 
qualifications  of  the  auctioneers,  as  for  the  vast 
amount  and  nature  of  the  property  they  have  ex- 
hibited. I  have  known  three  generations  of  the 
family,  and  had  reason  to  esteem  each  and  all. 
Though  I  saw  but  little  of  the  first,  who  was 
famed  for  his  bland  and  engaging  manners  and 
voice,  as  well  as  for  his  florid,  spontaneous  ad- 
dresses, or  panegyrics,  yet  I  never  see  the  ex- 
quisite portrait  of  him,  in  the  counting-house  of 
King  Street,  without  emotions  of  admiration  of 
the  artist,  and  the  auctioneer.  On  referring  to  a 
catalogue  of  "a  most  capital  and  precious  assem- 
blage of  pictures"  by  Mr.  Christie,  Sen.,  whose 
"Great  Room"  was  in  Pall  Mall,  June  I3th,  1807, 
I  see  a  flourishing,  and  rather  a  Robins-like  ac- 
count of  a  small  collection  of  only  44  pictures, 
each  of  which  is  highly  eulogised.  One  of  them, 
by  Rembrandt,  is  described  as  "the  finest  picture, 
without  exception,  ever  painted  by  that  master." 
The  Catalogue  is  marked  2s.  6d.  George  H. 
Christie  succeeded  his  parent  m  1831,  in  the  same 
premises,  and  in  the  same  career  of  high  character, 
and  in  costly  sales  of  works  of  art  and  vertu.  In 
the  same  year  Peter  Coxe,  author  of  "The  Social 
Day,"  a  poem,  sold  a  small  gallery  of  "original 
paintings,  the  property  of  Mr.  Andrew  Wilson," 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

the  Catalogue  of  which,  marked  2s.  6d.,  contains 
a  highly  coloured  advertisement,  with  commentb 
on  each  "painting,"  also  praised.  He  was  brother 
of  Archdeacon  Coxe,  and  a  popular  auctioneer  for 
some  years.  Amongst  other  sales  was  one  of  the 
Bowood  collection  of  pictures,  out  of  which  I  pur- 
chased three,  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Romney, 
and  Wright,  of  Derby.  The  first  and  second  were 
transferred  to  the  Marquis  of  Stafford,  and  the 
third,  half-length  of  the  Marquis  of  Granby,  to  a 
gentleman  of  Devonshire. 

With  the  late  James  Christie  I  was  familiarly 
acquainted,  in  his  public  and  private  characteris- 
tics; and  though  I  occasionally  lamented  to  see 
him  in  his  auction-rostrum,  surrounded  by  un- 
shaven and  rude  brokers,  and  sometimes  subject- 
ed to  the  cant  language  of  such  "gents,"  I  also 
saw  him  in  the  company  of  nobles  of  trie  land, 
and  commoners  of  equally  noble  character.  With 
the  latter,  my  amiable  friend  seemed  "at  home," 
and  addressed  them  in  language  and  manners 
which  could  not  fail  to  propitiate  their  confidence 
and  respect.  More  than  once  I  have  attended  his 
sales,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  certain  fine  pic- 
tures, and  also  to  bid  for  some  on  account  of 
friends.  The  celebrated  series  of  Hogarth's  "Elec- 
tion" I  bought  for  Sir  John  Soane,  at  what  was 

166 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

thought  to  be  a  large  sum.  The  lot  excited  com- 
petition, and  the  auctioneer  made  occasional 
pauses  and  a  few  opposite  and  judicious  remarks 
between  the  biddings.  On  knocking  it  down,  he 
pronounced  as  neat  and  pointed  an  address  to  the 
successful  candidate  as  ever  was  heard  at  any 
electioneering  contest  in  the  united  kingdom.  Mr. 
Christie,  Sen.,  died  in  1805;  and  James  Christie, 
his  Son,  in  1831,  aged  57. 

In  King  Street,  Covent  Garden,  were  the  Auc- 
tion-rooms of  King  and  Lochee,  chiefly  devoted  to 
books,  in  which  I  was  Erst  tempted  to  compete 
for  a  few  topographical  articles  in  1800.  It  was 
the  library  of  Philip  Luckombe,  who  had  pub- 
lished a  small  "History  of  Printing,"  in  1771 ;  "A 
Tour  in  Ireland,  1783;"  and  "England's  Gazet- 
teer," in  1790,  in  3  volumes,  I2mo.;  also  some 
other  works;  whence  it  appears  that  he  had  been 
connected  with  the  press.  His  library,  though 
small,  contained  Camden's  Britannia,  interleaved 
and  illustrated;  his  own  "Gazetteer,"  interleaved, 
with  MS.  Notes;  also  other  topographical  books. 
There  being  but  little  competition,  I  laid  out  about 
£20,  and  carried  away  a  hackney  coach  load  of  lit- 
erary materials  for  future  reference  and  applica- 
tion. 

At  the  same  rooms,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Far- 
167 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

mer's  large  library  had  been  sold  in  1798;  extend- 
ing over  thirty-six  days. 

My  (Britton)  earliest  aspirations,  after  engaging 
to  write  on  Topography,  were  to  cultivate  the  ac- 
quaintance of  those  persons,  who  either  sold  or 
collected  books,  prints,  or  other  articles  in  that 
class  of  literature ;  and  that  I  progressively  and  ul- 
timately became  familiar  with  most  of  the  bibliopo- 
lists,  print-sellers,  and  auction-rooms  in  the  me- 
tropolis. My  limited  funds,  however,  precluded 
me  from  purchasing  to  a  great  extent;  but  I  may 
safely  aver  that,  from  the  year  1800  to  1850,  there 
was  not  one  Olympic  cycle  passed  without  an  in- 
crease of  my  library,  in  books,  prints,  and  draw- 
ings. As  already  remarked,  my  fit  of  Bibliomania 
was  first  caught  at  the  sale  of  the  library  of  Philip 
Luckombe,  when  I  obtained  the  "Britannia,"  with 
printed,  manuscript,  and  graphic  accompaniments. 

Thenceforward  the  disease  increased  in  strength, 
and  I  continued  to  frequent  nearly  all  the  book 
sales  of  London,  in  which  topography  and  antiqui- 
ties constituted  any  distinguished  portion.  On 
these  occasions,  I  not  only  became  acquainted  with 
eminent  collectors,  but  also  obtained  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  relative  merits  and  value  of  books. 
Unlike  many  of  my  associates  at  these  competing 
marts,  I  never  sought  to  possess  works  which 

168 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

were  valued  and  purchased  merely  from  rarity, 
or  dimensions  of  margin.  Fine  paper  and  good 
prints  I  coveted,  and  sometimes  bought  Under 
these  influences,  and  of  warm  temperament,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  my  own  collection  increased  to 
an  unwieldly  and  inconvenient  extent.  My  rooms, 
boxes,  closets,  &c.,  were  crowded,  whilst  the  purse 
collapsed,  and  I  deemed  it  prudent  to  commission 
Mr.  Southgate  to  sell  some  of  the  books  at  his 
rooms.  In  June,  1832,  I  sent  enough  to  make  up 
six  days'  sale;  and  subsequently,  at  different 
times,  have  sold  a  sufficient  number  to  occupy  ten 
more  days.  Every  sale,  however,  furnished  cause 
of  mortification  and  sorrow;  for  books,  drawings, 
prints,  and  objects  of  vertu,  were  sold  at  very  low 
prices. 

The  following  Address  was  written  and  printed 
by  Mr.  Britton  in  June,  1832,  to  accompany  Cata- 
logues sent  to  particular  persons ;  and  is  reprinted, 
in  this  place,  as  expressive  of  the  feelings  and  opin- 
ions he  then  experienced  and  entertained  on  such 
a  subject. 

BOOKS:  READING,  STUDY. 

A  man  who  has  been  actively  engaged  for  forty 
years  in  collecting,  and  in  using  Books, — who 
during  that  space  of  time  has  been  economical  in 

169 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

all  his  other  expences  for  the  purpose  of  indulging 
this  "hobby,"  and  who  has  also  been  much  occu- 
pied in  the  pleasure  of  writing,  and  penalties  of 
publishing,  will  be  likely  to  find  the  said  hobby 
grow  rather  too  large  for  his  stable,  and  demand 
more  than  common  care  and  labour  in  "looking 
after.''  Though  thus  overgrown  and  incommo- 
dious, I  can  truly  re-echo  the  sentiment  of  Cum- 
berland, who  in  his  "Memoirs"  asserts,  that  his 
"books  and  pen  have  been  his  never-failing  com- 
forters and  friends." 

From  these,  and  all  other  earthly  ties,  a  time  of 
parting  must  arrive;  and  Books  will  have  failed  in 
one  of  their  important  duties,  or  qualities,  if  they 
have  not  inculcated  the  lesson  of  submitting  to  in- 
evitable events,  without  unavailing  murmur.  Phil- 
osophy has  many  pretty  maxims,  but  it  has  not 
one  among  the  number  to  render  sensibility  insen- 
sible. It  certainly  teaches  us  "to  bear  the  ills  we 
have,"  and  guard  against,  or  ward  off  others, 
which  may  assail  us.  Dr.  Kitchener  instructed 
"every  man  to  make  his  own  Will" — and  he  might 
have  taught  him,  also,  to  be  his  own  Executor. 
This  would  tend  to  shorten  lawyers'  bills,  and 
lengthen  legacies;  would  benefit  widows  and  or- 
phans, and  abridge  posthumous  taxation.  If  there 
were  no  other  reasons  for  a  man's  looking  beyond 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

the  grave,  than  a  desire  of  saving  litigation,  and 
mulcts  to  the  tax  office,  these  were  sufficient;  but 
how  often  and  how  effectually  can  he  apply  his 
superfluous  property — if  he  has  any — towards  the 
end  of  his  life,  if  he  has  resolution  and  good  feel- 
ings, to  bequeath  it  to  deserving  relatives  and 
friends. 

Let  us  hear  what  Petrarch  said  of  Books,  about 
five  hundred  years  ago,  when  there  were  neither 
Magazines  nor  Reviews,  and  when  printing  and 
engraving  were  alike  unknown,  and  let  us  en- 
deavour to  appreciate  and  profit  by  his  just  and 
philosophical  remarks. 

"Some  people  consider  the  pleasures  of  the 
world  as  their  supreme  good,  and  not  to  be  re- 
nounced. But  I  have  friends  of  a  very  different 
description  (my  Books),  whose  society  is  far  more 
agreeable  to  me:  they  are  of  all  countries,  and  of 
all  ages ;  they  are  distinguished  in  war,  in  politics, 
and  in  the  sciences.  It  is  very  easy  to  see  them; 
they  are  always  at  my  service.  I  call  for  their  com- 
pany, or  send  them  away,  whenever  I  please :  they 
are  never  troublesome,  and  immediately  answer 
all  my  questions.  Some  relate  the  events  of  ages 
past,  others  reveal  the  secrets  of  nature;  these 
teach  me  how  to  live  in  comfort,  those  how  to  die 
in  quiet.  In  return  for  all  these  services,  they  only 


LITERARY  LONDON. 

require  a  chamber  of  me  in  one  corner  of  my  man- 
sion, where  they  may  repose  in  peace." 

If,  however,  instead  of  one  corner  of  his  man- 
sion, Petrarch  had  found  every  room  and  every 
closet  of  his  house  rilled  with  these  dear  friends, 
he  might  have  experienced  some  inconvenience 
from  their  company,  and  been  induced,  like  my- 
self and  many  others,  to  turn  some  of  them  out  of 
doors,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  and  enjoying  the 
selected  few. 

A  short  account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Library,  of  which  a  part  is  now  to  be  disposed  of, 
will  "point  a  moral,"  if  not  "adorn  a  tale."  In  boy- 
hood I  attended  the  sale  of  a  country  'squire's  fur- 
niture, &c.,  and  bought  a  lot  of  nine  books  for  is. 
One  of  them  was  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  which  I  read 
with  avidity,  and  longed  to  be  cast  on  a  desert 
island,  with  a  "Man  Friday."  This  library  trav- 
elled with  me  to  London,  and  occupied — with 
Bailey's  Dictionary,  a  few  magazines,  some  ana- 
tomical and  medical  books,  &c. — a  small  deal 
box,  during  six  years  of  miserable  apprenticeship, 
the  greater  part  of  which  was  spent  in  a  murky, 
damp,  and  dirty  cellar.  Sanguine  in  hopes,  and 
ardently  looking  forward  to  emancipation  from  a 
sad  state  of  legal  slavery,  my  health  gave  way,  and 
I  became  weak,  emaciated,  and  desponding.  But 


THE  STRAND,  ETC. 

for  the  "little  knowledge"  obtained  even  from  my 
small  library,  I  should  have  sunk  into  an  early 
grave;  from  books  I  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
my  own  constitution,  frame  of  body,  and  the  latent 
disease  which  exhibited  evident  symptoms  of  con- 
sumption. Thus,  I  attribute  prolongation  of  life 
to  reading.  At  the  end  of  apprenticeship  my  boy- 
library  contained  twenty-five  volumes,  and  my 
purse  five  guineas.  For  the  ensuing  ten  years 
my  stock  increased  but  very  slowly ;  a  small  nest  of 
shelves  held  the  whole.  Commencing  with  Mr. 
Brayley  the  "Beauties  of  England,"  in  1800,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  have  nearly  every  printed  book 
relating  to  the  counties  described;  but  as  these 
were  expensive,  they  were  retained  only  as  long  as 
wanted,  and  then  sold  to  purchase  others.  This 
class  of  reading  and  writing  excited  a  desire  to 
possess  a  library,  and  every  new  year  not  only  in- 
creased the  desire,  but  also  augmented  the  collec- 
tion. 

In  Tavistock  Place  it  occupied  three  sides  of  a 
small  room  nine  feet  square,  and  I  then  thought 
myself  truly  rich  and  happy.  Infected  with  the 
"Bibliomania,"  which  raged  for  some  time  in  Lon- 
don, I  was  impelled  to  attend  the  sale  rooms  of 
King  and  Lochee — Richardson — Leigh  and  Soth- 
eby — Evans,  and  other  famed  "contagionists" — 
173 


LITERARY   LONDON. 

where  I  continued  to  purchase,  as  if  "increase  of 
appetite  grew  with  what  it  fed  on."  Many  "curi- 
ous, choice,  and  rare  articles"  have  thus  come  into 
my  possession,  which  I  have  seen  pass  through  the 
hands  of  three  or  four  "famous"  collectors.  Here 
the  retrospect  is  painful,  and  melancholy;  for  it 
brings  before  imagination  the  Names,  Tales,  and 
varied  Characters  of  the  indefatigable  and  zealous 
Strutt — the  eccentric  and  enthusiastic  Carter — the 
magnificent  Lansdowne — the  amiable  and  learned 
Boucher — the  plodding  and  laborious  Reed — the 
talented  but  splenetic  Steevens  and  Ritson — the 
universally  esteemed  Alexander — the  ostentatious 
Dent — the  historical  Coxe,  cum  multis  aliis. 


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